All smartphones on the market today come with built-in localization services that could be used to reveal location data. But what if you do n’t want to share your placement data with anyone ? If you disable placement services on your phone, is it still possible for it to be tracked ?
Read on to find out whether your phone can be tracked after you disable location services.
Can Your Phone Be Tracked If Location Services Are Off?
The question “ if placement services are off can I be tracked ? ” is a technical one to answer, after all, turning off placement services on your call is supposed to make it untraceable. But this is not always the sheath, as there are other ways that your device can still be tracked. thus, can a telephone be tracked when turned off ?
To be average, turning off the built-in location service on your device does a good job of concealing your location. however, trackers can use other technologies and techniques to reveal your device location, whether or not location services are turned on .
Four Ways Your Phone Can Be Tracked Without GPS
Turning off location services on your device works well to keep your device localization hide, but alone to an extent. There are early technologies and techniques that can be used to track your earphone evening with location services turned off. Let ’ s talk about some of them below .
1. Cell Carrier Towers
Yeah. They ’ re everywhere. Cell carriers can track your call ’ second location by identifying the towers you ’ ra connected to and measuring the time delay that a signal takes to make a rung trip between the towers and your call. This stay is then calculated and converted into a specific distance or range, which returns a fairly accurate call placement .
MAKEUSEOF VIDEO OF THE DAY This works very well because your earphone ( when on ) stays in constant connection with nearby cell towers .
2. Public Wi-Fi Networks
free Wi-Fi networks are all the rage these days. They ’ rhenium everywhere, and it can be tempting to connect to one when you have a slow connection. But here ’ s the thing : public Wi-Fi networks are another way your device ’ south localization can be tracked, even with localization services turned off .
Most absolve Wi-Fi providers collect your device ’ randomness media access command ( MAC ) address in exchange for the connection. Providers can use your call ’ sulfur MAC address to keep logs of the places you visit whenever you connect with any hot spot from the same supplier .
3. StingRays
StingRays ( besides known as cell-site simulators ) function a lot like cell towers, except their only practice is to track your telephone rather of providing you with a very network connection .
A StingRay simulates a cell loom to get nearby mobile devices to connect to it. StingRays are largely used by law enforcement to track devices in a given area. They broadcast stronger signals than cell towers, which forces mobile phones to disconnect from legitimate cell towers and connect and ping to them alternatively .
Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons
just like with legitimate cell towers, your phone ’ second placement can then be deduced by measuring and converting the time it takes for the signal to make a round tripper between your phone and the StingRay .
4. Spyware and malware
Pre-installed malware can besides be used to track your device even when your GPS is turned off. The most coarse room this malware gains access to your device is through a Trojan cavalry, accessing your arrangement through a back door .
The Skygofree malware tracks the location of the device it ’ second installed on and disguises it as an update to improve the user ’ sulfur internet speed .
once installed, Skygofree tracks the location of the device it ’ sulfur installed on, turns on audio record, controls Wi-Fi networks vitamin a well as manages apps like Facebook Messenger, Skype, Viber, and Whatsapp .
How to Stop Your Phone From Being Tracked
There are many reasons why you may want to stop your call from being tracked. It could be for privacy and sometimes even for security reasons .
thus, having answered the “ can you track a telephone if the localization is off ? ” wonder, it ‘s significant to know how you can protect your device from being tracked. Below are seven ways to do so :
Image Credit: maxkabakov/Depositphotos | VectorStory/Depositphotos
1. Turn Off Wi-Fi In Public Places
Most smartphones generally have a connection preference for Wi-Fi networks. You may have experienced a time when your device mechanically switched from using your mobile data to using an available Wi-Fi network. This happens quite frequently if your Wi-Fi is constantly on .
Disabling your phone ’ south Wi-Fi connection when in public places eliminates the risk of your device automatically connecting to a Wi-Fi net that collects location data .
2. Turn off GPS
There are ways your device could even be tracked even after turning off location services but not turning it off is worse. Turning off location services on your earphone provides a layer of security against the most common location trackers .
3. Browse Using a VPN
A Virtual Private Network ( VPN ) enables you to browse the internet anonymously by creating a private network from a public internet joining. When you use a VPN while browsing, it encrypts your internet data, hiding your IP address and physical location. This way, you ‘re covered even if you visit a site that collects visitor location data .
4. Mind Your Download Sites
only install apps from official stores. There are early ways malware could be distributed, but disabling the facility of apps from third-party sources and minding your download sites is the best way to keep them out.
Read more: A Few Thoughts on Cryptographic Engineering
You can besides install an antivirus to better secure your device from malicious apps and files, fishy websites, and dangerous links .
5. Scrutinize App Permissions
All apps ask certain permissions to function by rights. But you should be leery of doubtful license requests. When an app that doesn ’ triiodothyronine require your localization data to serve requests for location permission, that ’ s a augury that the app may be doing more than it ’ s supposed to .
Uninstall any app that requests more permissions than you think is reasonable. You can find replacements on the app memory if you absolutely need to use the function .
One of the best ways to keep your device fasten is by regularly updating your software. Operating system updates normally include security patches that fix vulnerabilities in the code. then, if a newly exploit is found, you ’ re less probable to be affected if your software is up-to-date .
7. Factory Reset
A factory readjust is a end repair if you think your device has been compromised. Doing then will delete all the data on your call, so be certain to back up everything before you proceed. If you do n’t already know how to reset your Android or io device, our guides on how to reset an io or Android device will help you .
Keep in mind that a factory reset will alone work if the malicious software is not actively running in the background or if it ’ s not installed on your device as system software .
How to Stop Your Cell Carrier From Tracking Your Phone’s Location
You ’ ve credibly already noticed that none of the tips shared above can protect your telephone from being tracked by your service supplier. There ‘s an explanation for that .
It is because your phone needs to be in changeless communication with nearby cellular telephone towers to function by rights. The only means to stop your device from being tracked by your cell aircraft carrier is by switching it off— and removing the battery .
This is the only way you can be guaranteed that your device is not being tracked. Anyone trying to track your device after it ’ mho been switched off will only be able to trace it to the location it was before it was switched off. Which, ideally, should not be your home plate address .
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About The author
John Awa-abuon
( 132 Articles Published )
John is a lover of technical school by parentage, a digital subject godhead by trail and a Tech Lifestyle Writer by Profession. John believes in helping people solve problems and he writes articles that do barely that .
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