Affiliate Disclaimer To track the location history of a mobile phone, you can check the location services on the device or view the Google Maps timeline. Third-party apps allow tracking someone’s location history as a parental control feature only.
Tracking location is legal if you utilize it correctly. It is common for worried parents to trace their children’s location history to learn about the places they have been. Even if your phone is stolen, you may want to monitor both the location history and the current position. You may also see your location history to track your phone’s movement over time. This is just for security reasons.
So, read further for the complete step-by-step guide on how to track a phone’s location history.
Method 1: Timeline on Google Maps
You can check your location history on Google Maps through the website or app on your smartphone, if you have a Google email account. Follow the next steps:
Step 1: Visit https://maps.google.com/locationhistory or open the Google Maps app > Timeline.
Google will show you where you’ve gone with your mobile phone the previous day or the last 30 days.
Step 2: Select the period you’d like to see your location history for. It will display all the locations you have visited.
NOTE: if you have a Gmail or Google account and your phone has location services enabled, this location history is immediately enabled. If your map is Google Maps or any other application on your phone, location services will be enabled automatically, and the map will be visible when you visit https://maps.google.com/locationhistory.
The good news is that your location history can only be seen by individuals connected to your Google account on your computer, or if they know your Google login credentials.
In such a situation, they can rapidly determine where you’ve been in the previous 30 days, i.e. where you’ve gone and taken your phone.
Method 2: Check iPhone Location History in iOS Settings
If you accept it, Apple will also gather location data, giving less historical data and less detail. You can, however, observe some history.
- Select Settings.
- Scroll down to Location Services > Privacy.
- Tap System Services at the bottom of the Location Services screen.
- Select Significant Locations (called Frequent Locations in some versions of iOS). You may disable this function with the toggle switch at the top of the Significant Locations screen.
- Scroll down to discover your location history, which includes place names and dates. Everything that Apple sees is now visible to you.
- Apple only maintains a limited number of locations and, unlike Google, does not give accurate journey logs and timeframes. It displays a location, a date, and an estimated position circle on a non-interactive (no pinch-to-zoom) map. Toggle off Significant Locations in your iPhone’s Settings app if you don’t want Apple to follow you.
Method 3: Phone Trackers for Parental Control
Phone trackers, when installed and used constantly, track and store location history. They are usually used for parental control. These are mSpy, uMobix, Eyezy or others.
Note: You cannot install this application and see the history of previous locations. The tracker starts storing location data from the time of installation.
Here is an example of how the mSpy tracker works. All data collected by the app is transferred to the company’s cloud server, which you may view through the web-based dashboard. You may easily retrieve all tracking information by entering the dashboard.
With this advanced program, I can observe everything going on the target device regarding location history. Thus, I got more information about my child’s whereabouts.
Method 4: Reverse Phone Lookup Tools
Reverse phone lookup services search for information about the phone number and can retrieve location history in the form of past addresses connected to the number’s owner. Once again, it’s not a list of visited places but addresses of registration, their living, or business.
Most reverse phone lookup services that work with this type of information are available in the USA only as privacy law there is not so strict as in Europe or other countries.
Below, you can see what a phone number search report looks like on the TruthFinder website.
How to Delete Google Maps History
To delete Google Maps’ location history, go to Settings on the website or mobile app. You can delete all of Google’s data on where you went and clear your Google Maps search history there.
- Launch your Google Maps app on your iPhone or Android device, then touch your profile image in the upper-right corner.
- Select Settings from the menu that appears.
- Choose Maps History.
- Locate the Search your activity bar, hit the three dots on the app next to it, and then choose to Delete activity.
- You must choose a period for the history you wish to remove. If you choose All time, it will take you back to when you initially established your Google account.
- After you’ve chosen a period, touch “Delete”.
How to delete location history on iPhone
To delete and switch off your location history, follow the instructions below.
- Scroll down to Privacy under Settings.
- Select Location Services. This section shows which applications utilize your location and when they do so.
- Scroll to the bottom and choose System Services. This will display built-in services that utilize your location to deliver location-based Apple advertisements or to adjust the timezone automatically. Change their settings to your liking.
- Now go to Significant Locations. You will be prompted to sign in using your Apple or Touch ID.
- View your iPhone’s location history here. You can delete each place separately or clear them all at once.
- Sliding the bar to the left is how you turn off location on your iPhone and deactivate Significant Locations. You may enable it again at any time. Significant Locations data is encrypted and saved on your phone, making Apple workers unable to access it.
How to recover deleted location history on iPhone & Android
To retrieve the location history just deleted from Android and iPhone devices, use the backups stored on your mobile device.
Still, if you have not been making backups, then you may lose your data. When this happens, you have the option of using any third-party program or piece of software to work toward retrieving the lost location history.
Note: You may find information about using Snapchat to see the location history of your friends. Still, since 2024, the Ghost Trails feature, which allowed to see friends’ locations on Snapchat for the past 24 hours, is no longer available as Snapchat rolled out live location sharing.
Conclusion
Both Android and iPhone allow you to view your phone’s location history through settings and maps. To use it at the appropriate time, remember to check the settings.
If you are a parent and want to check your children’s location history remotely, use a family tracker with this feature.
FAQ
To check someone else’s location history, you need to have access to their phone. From there, you can check Google Maps timeline or history in Location Services on iPhone. Parents can use phone trackers like mSpy or uMobix.
You can do that only by accessing their phone and Google account on Google Maps.
The safest approach is to use your mobile backups, but your data may be lost if you do not back up for the device before deleting the histories. In such instances, you might attempt to recover the lost location history using any third-party program or software.
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