Even if you don’t imagine a child wandering alone through the forest, it’s still not pleasant to lose contact with him in a modern metropolis. However, despite all the dangers, parents are forced to let their children go. To avoid unnecessary hassle, there are several ways, the simplest and cheapest of which is to install a special application on your smartphone. With the help of satellite networks and the method of backsighting (LBS), that is, by turning to geolocation technologies. Everything else - including the way to find a phone by IMEI - is just additional tracking tools.
Life360: be with your family
This is not simple software, but an entire social cross-platform system where you can create groups of users and track their location. In addition, the application supports messenger functions and also makes it possible to assess the battery status of the phone you are interested in.
What is very important for parents is the ability to highlight locations, for example, school, home, work, and so on. When you enter or exit it, the program will give you a signal.
The panic button function is also very important. When a user in a difficult situation clicks on it, everyone in his circle receives a corresponding message.
How to control a child from your Android phone
Let's look at several applications that will help track what a student is doing outside the home and on the Internet.
So, the following applications are suitable for tracking the location of children and remote monitoring of the surrounding situation:
Family GPS tracker KidsControl
Using this utility, you can easily and accurately track where your child is. You will need to enable geolocation in the gadget settings. The program is also compatible with children's smart watches, and in the options you can select a specific geofence, and if the baby leaves it, a push notification will be sent to the parent's phone.
Using the program, a child can give an SOS signal and then a notification about his location will be sent to all family members - all those who have the application installed. In the program settings there is also an option to listen to the surrounding situation around the child, and the application will do this completely unnoticed.
Detailed description HERE
"Where are My Children"
This is one of the most famous and popular free applications for Android. The software allows you not only to control the baby’s location, but also to monitor the battery charge level on his gadget. When the battery level is low, the parent will receive a notification on their smartphone.
In addition, the application has special options that will be useful to any parent:
• Listening to the surrounding space. The utility allows you not only to listen, but also to record the sound around the gadget of the person being tracked, and this will not be noticeable from the outside in any way.
• Setting up control zones. You can set an area within which the teenager will move freely. As soon as the offspring leaves its boundaries, a notification will be sent to the father or mother’s smartphone. By the way, both parents can use the application at the same time.
• Saving movement history. The software will store all information about where the observed person has been over the last two days.
Interestingly, the software works in two modes – “Parent” and “Child”. The first mode allows you to control your child’s actions via the phone, and the second is needed to allow observations.
Cocospy
This is a popular foreign gadget monitoring application. Tracking does not require jailbreaking or any additional settings. It is presented in the software store for both iOS and Android.
Cocospy main options:
• Call manager. You can track absolutely all calls from your daughter or son, and even block suspicious phones.
• SMS fixation. Allows you to read any messages, even deleted ones, indicating the subscriber's number.
• Social media monitoring. The software will help you track messages from social networks and instant messengers - Skype, WhatsApp, Viber, Facebook, etc.
• GPS tracking. Using this option, moms and dads will always know where their offspring is.
• View photos and videos in the gallery. One can see all the contents of multimedia messages and access for viewing in the teenager's gadget gallery.
• View your browser history. This way you can track what children did on the Internet.
Other options are available: reading emails, viewing notes and calendar entries, and much more.
There are other similar programs, such as: “Kid security - more than parental control 0+”, etc. In fact, all utilities differ in interface and management, but their basic set of options is the same.
For the convenience of parents, you can use more advanced programs that will allow you not only to control your child’s movement on the street, but also to track his actions on the Internet, for example, such a well-known one as Google Family Link (for parents).
Google Family Link (for parents)
The program is free and will help you not only know where your child is (Google recommends using the application until your child reaches the age of thirteen), but also completely control his use of the gadget.
Here you can:
- set a limit on the installation of utilities
- track which programs are used most often
- set a limit on online purchases
- find out where the baby is (just launch the application on your smartphone)
- block the device for a while, remotely for the night, and many others
The installation of the utility must also be performed on the child’s device, but it is noteworthy that he will not be able to remove Google Family Link without your permission.
Parental controls and GPS: Kaspersky SafeKids
This utility from the Kaspersky company gives parents excellent opportunities to control the younger generation, although there are not very many of them in the free version.
You can limit the viewing of sites inappropriate for children, as well as inappropriate content, set time limits for using the gadget, and even receive advice from a professional psychologist.
In the full version, you can track your child’s location online, set the hours of smartphone use, see the battery charge, and get a report on all interactions with the browser.
Sygic Family Locator
Sygic Family Locator
Just recently, one could say that there was nothing special in this program, because everything was like everyone else’s: an SOS button, GPS search for people by phone number, a messenger - however, in the summer of 2016, the development company completed not so much a technological as a marketing breakthrough: the program has learned to send relatives data on aircraft departures and landings, which, of course, is sometimes very important.
Tele2 service: Parental control
The operator offers a service, “Parental Control”. Its main features:
- Ability to control up to 10 people simultaneously;
- Sending an invitation to a second trustee for joint control;
- Enable restrictions on Internet use at a given time;
- Monitoring the operation of applications, account balance and charge level of the monitored phone.
The fee for using this service is 9 rubles per day. You can also exercise control from your mobile device; the “My Children” application (iOS, Android) will help with this.
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Operators offer
Today, every mobile operator provides a number direction finding service. Traditionally, these services are provided for a fee, but their cost is not at all high.
Such services can be activated using USSD requests, using IVR, through a personal account on the operator’s website or in stores. This can be done if you hold the child’s phone in your hands for a minute or two, which is usually not a problem. You can see your child’s location data by receiving it on your smartphone in the form of SMS or by installing a special application.
Tracking the location of a child (elderly adult) using mobile operators
There are several ways to find out a person's location using his phone. The most obvious one is to use the location relative to network base stations, as well as Wi-Fi access points. This approach is called LBS, from Location-based service.
The electronic map of the LBS system of the cellular network operator contains landmarks, linking to which allows you to determine the location of the cell phone. But this method is not accurate enough, as mobile operators directly state. Object location using LBS can only provide an accuracy of 120 meters to 1 kilometer. In dense urban environments, such information may be of little use.
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A way to track your baby's location via iPhone
Apple can offer a reliable and free solution. The default iPhone firmware comes with a built-in Find My iPhone program. Even if the device is stolen, it will not be possible to remove it.
To start using the Find My iPhone app, you need to activate your Apple ID on iCloud. Then enter your password and give your device geolocation permission. To change your settings, go to your Family Sharing settings.
Read more: How to install parental controls on your child's phone.
Google services for determining where a child is
The “Find my device” application allows you to quickly and accurately locate the desired phone. After this, you can remotely block the device and get directions to it. Erase all data or turn up the volume to maximum even in silent mode.
To download this useful app for tracking your child's location on a smartphone, head to Google Market. The application is suitable both for monitoring children and as a way to prevent the irretrievable loss of the device itself.
Useful applications: TOP 11 free parental control programs.
There is also an easy way to track a child using a Google account:
- Go to Google.
- Click on "Menu".
- Scroll to the very bottom of the page.
- Click on "https://myaccount.google.com/intro/find-your-phone".
- If the system asks you to log in, enter your details.
How to do this through a browser on a computer:
- Open Google and enter the search query Google Device Manager.
- Go to the manager page.
- If you are not logged in, please log into your account.
- Give Google consent to process your location information.
- The manager will immediately show you where the device you need is located.
To use this feature, you must first link your phone number to your Google account. It will be possible to track the gadget only if the GPS works properly. Also set permissions that allow you to remotely monitor and control your device.
Smart tags
They have been working successfully for a long time. Even Apple and Samsung presented their smart tags to control things. They are shaped like a keychain and can easily be attached to a bag, keys, or even a pet's collar. What, then, is stopping you from attaching a tag to your child’s backpack or to his house keys? Yes, the technology is still imperfect, but this is only the first stage of its development. This method has its pros and cons, but choice is always good.
Using BlueTooth
More than ten years ago, BlueTooth headsets came into use and became popular, especially among children and youth. Today, a huge number of people use it in everyday life, believing that the device “catch” at a distance of no more than a few steps. In reality this is not the case, and the range of the headset is much greater. In some cases, it is possible to intercept a signal at a distance of thousands of meters, using a directional antenna for this purpose.
In the manufacture of such equipment, the Chinese were “ahead of the rest.” On trading platforms such as Alibaba and Aliexpress, devices are ordered that intercept an unprotected signal from BlueTooth. True, they cost hundreds of euros, have questionable reliability and a high chance of not passing Russian customs.
Radio antenna (mobile wiretapping complex)
The method is expensive and difficult to implement, but has a right to exist. If your parents have not just a lot of money, but too much, you can buy a mobile complex on the shadow communications market to listen to phones within a radius of 500 m. The complex is a directional radio antenna that connects to a computer and works to intercept all phone signals.
The advantage of the complex is its accuracy, reliability and mobility. At the end of the listening, the antenna is turned off and transported to a new location. The exorbitant price - several hundred thousand euros - is quite justified, since GSM conversations are monitored in real time. The equipment retrieves information not from the subscriber’s SIM card, but from the telecom operator’s database.
Installing a bug
From books and films about spies, we know about the existence of “bugs” for wiretapping - recording devices that record the sound picture within the range of perception of the microphone. Modern devices allow you to record sounds and conversations and broadcast them to third-party resources. They operate from a communication device battery.
However, there is one “but”: no matter how miniature the “bug” is, it is a foreign body that is quite difficult to hide in a mobile phone. A child will easily detect it, with all the ensuing consequences. Therefore, such devices are rarely used for the purpose of listening to a mobile phone.
