Cell phone tracking
As I really have no concerns about being spied upon, I make sure that both my and DWs cell phones have GPS tracking turned on and enabled at all times. When we are traveling, we realize that if anyth...
Forum Discussion
If you want to be tracked, get a Spot that uses GPS for tracking and satellite communication.
If you don't want to be tracked, turn the phone off. Any phone that is on and communicating with a tower can be tracked to the tower and a quadrant or octant. Phones deployed in the U.S. since the 911 law was passed in the early 2000s have to have a primitive GPS receiver (CDMA) or ability to be located by multiple towers (GSM).
A smart phone with WiFi on can more precisely (than GPS) locate itself in urban environment by reference to locations of nearby WiFi hot spots (Apple, Google etc maintain hotspot location databases). You have a choice, most phones, whether to report this location information to an application. When your FaceBook app on the phone says "you have a friend nearby" and they are in the same room or a few feet away on the street, location services got that from WiFi.
But if there is no cell service (almost half the area of the U.S. now that we have shut down analog) and no WiFi hotspots in the database, nobody has a clue where your phone is, because even if the GPS knows, the phone can't tell anybody.
If you don't want to be tracked, turn the phone off. Any phone that is on and communicating with a tower can be tracked to the tower and a quadrant or octant. Phones deployed in the U.S. since the 911 law was passed in the early 2000s have to have a primitive GPS receiver (CDMA) or ability to be located by multiple towers (GSM).
A smart phone with WiFi on can more precisely (than GPS) locate itself in urban environment by reference to locations of nearby WiFi hot spots (Apple, Google etc maintain hotspot location databases). You have a choice, most phones, whether to report this location information to an application. When your FaceBook app on the phone says "you have a friend nearby" and they are in the same room or a few feet away on the street, location services got that from WiFi.
But if there is no cell service (almost half the area of the U.S. now that we have shut down analog) and no WiFi hotspots in the database, nobody has a clue where your phone is, because even if the GPS knows, the phone can't tell anybody.
