Find out how to track a person on Google Maps. Google Maps has some useful tricks up its sleeve for tracking people, do you know them?
If Google Maps knows your location, would it be possible to know how to track a person by Google Maps? Well, the answer is controversial. Yes, Google can know where we are, and with some tricks and tricks we could also know about other people. However, spying on someone else’s phone is completely illegal, directly infringing the Right to Privacy. So it is up to you, and under your own responsibility, to apply this knowledge and tricks.
However, it can be really useful to know the location of an elderly person who tends to get lost and know where he/she is directly on Google Maps. Of course, Google does not have tools per se for this, perhaps because of the moral and legal implications of these practices. But with Google Maps a person can be tracked or traced more or less easily. By the way, here we are going to focus on Android terminals, where we can take advantage of all Google’s technology and platform for this task.
The first trick (or gimmick) that we are going to tell you has to do with the Find your mobile function offered by Google. A tool that connects the computer from which you are looking for it with your lost mobile to, if it has enough battery, show you what was its last location or even its actual current location. Here, of course, the trick is to have the Google credentials of the person you want to track. If you have their account and password, and if they don’t have any extra security barriers like a double verification code to access the system, then you can have their live location. Follow these steps:
- Open Google on a computer and search for “find my phone.”
- Click on the function. If you have your Google account open, your Google-linked smartphones and devices will appear. Sign out if applicable.
- Sign in with the credentials of the person you want to track. You will need the address and password. And you may require their mobile to know the verification code that we told you before to access their account.
- With this you will have access to their Android phone to know their exact location, as long as they have battery and Internet connection.
- The function, as you can see, focuses on finding the lost terminal. But thanks to this we will be able to know where the person is currently located. And we will even have the data of the percentage of battery charge. Very useful to know if the location is current or not, and if it stops sharing when the percentage approaches zero.
With this trick, even, we will have the possibility to ring the phone to locate it faster if it is lost, or to call the attention of that person. In addition, it can be locked and can be formatted remotely. Elements that only the user should manage, since it is his data and his mobile that will be compromised.
How To Share Your Real Location On Google Maps
There is another trick or function just as useful and practical to track a person on Google Maps. In this case we explain how to share your real location on Google Maps, which is very similar to what we have seen in WhatsApp. But perhaps less flashy and more unnoticed.
Thanks to this feature you can send from one mobile to another your real location at that moment. In addition, you can set how long this information can be visible to the other person. The only limitation is that all this is done through a link that has to be sent from the mobile of the one being tracked to the tracker’s mobile. Follow these steps:
On the tracked person’s mobile:
- Enter Google Maps
- Click on the blue dot to display the tab called Your Location
- Click on share location and set how many hours you want it to be active. Or if you prefer it to always be active until the function is deactivated.
- Choose the way to share the link: WhatsApp, email, Telegram, via SMS, Bluetooth…
- On the tracker’s cell phone
- Click on the link received from the tracked person’s cell phone.
- Check the location of that person on Google Maps
With this you will have in your map application the information of that contact who has shared with you the location. As you can see, to secretly track their position you must have access to their mobile. This is where this trick might get complicated. You will also know the charge level of their device and until what time you can have all this information.
Is It Possible To Know A Person’s Location Without Him Or Her Knowing It?
No. It is not possible to know a person’s location without him or her knowing it. And the fact is that Google services have different security formulas to ensure that only the real user has access to your data. Thus, even if we apply this trick to solve how to track a person through Google Maps, the user will receive a notification on his or her mobile indicating that this service is being used. In addition, it is likely to receive other notices such as emails indicating that your account has been registered on another device. If you are a clueless person or do not know how these services work you may not realize it. But the fact is that there are several alerts that warn you if your Google user account is being used remotely. And, of course, there are ways to prevent this from happening, such as changing your password when you receive this alert.
In the case of sharing the actual location on Google Maps, it is likely that the user may stumble upon the sending of the link that has allowed us to see where he/she is. Especially if we have used Google Maps to share it. He is less likely to check his email, for example. Still, as you can see, there are traces of this activity. So it is quite difficult for that spied or followed person not to realize that either something has been done with their Google Maps app, or some of their communication channels have been used to share the link.
In any case, all these tricks have clues that reveal what has been done. Therefore, it is best to apply them with knowledge of the other person. In situations where it may be of vital importance to know or track a person.