How to Track Phone in Ghana: 7 Free and Cheap Tools

Depending on the situation, you can use different methods to trace a phone in Ghana. For example, there is a free brand locator like Google Find My Device for a missing Android or a phone monitoring app for tracking a child’s phone.

In Ghana, tracking a mobile phone helps find missing people in floods and riots, tracing missing kids, and retrieving your phone if it gets stolen. For you to know, Ghana has a crime index of 44.5% and experienced 135 riots in 2023 alone.

Still, while Accra and Kumasi have good network coverage facilitating effective use of phone trackers, more remote or rural areas might have limited coverage, affecting tracker reliability. Thus, we’ll review different tracking methods for all situations.

If you’re in a hurry, we recommend an adequate solution for most circumstances — tracing a phone number. We tested a few services, and Scannero, Geofinder, and Detectico stood out the most during the test. They all feature a cheap trial version that allows you to trace any mobile phone in Ghana for less than GHS 11.

Find a Lost Phone with Mobile Brand Apps

Ghana’s most popular cellphone brands, such as Samsung, Tecno, Infinix, Apple, and Huawei, offer location apps. They include SmartThings Find for Samsung, Google Find My Device for Android, Find My for Apple, and Find My Phone for Huawei.

Their biggest advantage is the ability to trace one’s own lost or stolen phone for free. As a result, we recommend it to all Ghanaians, particularly those who live in high-crime areas such as Nkonya, Alavanyo, Bimbilla, and Bawku.

Let’s look how such a brand locator works.

How to Use SmartThings Find to Locate a Missing Samsung Galaxy

To use SmartThings Find, it should be previously enabled on your Samsung:

1. Go to Settings on your Samsung > Security and privacy > Lost device protection.
   
2. Here you need to give permission to find the phone (Allow this phone to be found). Also, additional features: Send last location and last update, Offline search (search for devices even without network access, but using devices that are nearby).
   

Then, if your Samsung is lost or stolen:

1. Sign in to the SmartThings Find app using your Samsung account credentials on another Samsung phone or browser.
   
2. If you have multiple Samsung devices, sign in and choose the device you want to locate from the list.
   
3. SmartThings Find will display the location of your device on a map, which you can use to locate your lost phone.
4. To help locate a nearby device, utilize the “Ring” option to make the phone make a sound even if it is set to silent.
   

Pros and Cons of Mobile Brand Locators:

Tracking mobile phones with brand locators has its pros and cons.

Mobile Phone Tracking Through Messengers

WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Telegram, IMO, and Viber are the most popular in Ghana. These messengers offer a feature called Location Sharing. It is free but requires your friend to let you track them.

How to use the location-sharing feature on messaging apps:

1. Open a messaging app like WhatsApp, Facebook, or IMO.
2. Open the chat of the person you want to share the location with.
3. Tap on the “+” or the Attach icon.
4. Click “Share Location” or a “Share Live Location”.
5. Choose the duration, if applicable.
6. Confirm sharing and tap “Send”.

We recommend location sharing to ensure a loved one’s safety in unfamiliar places and convenience when meeting up with friends in a crowded location.

Pros and Cons of Location Sharing Via Messengers:

Tracking friends using location sharing has its pros and cons.

Use Phone Number Trackers in Ghana

A mobile number tracker in Ghana is a service that tracks a phone’s location using its mobile number. These trackers send a text message with a location-tracking link to the phone number. After the recipient clicks it, the service receives the phone’s location using its IP address.

Before trying paid mobile number trackers, start with HeyLocate Free Track Phone Number Ghana. The service will tell you the person’s city, phone carrier, and network type for free. It will then show you the best service to get specific details about the owner of that phone number.

Meanwhile, as already mentioned, Scannero, Detectico, and GEOfinder can track someone’s location in Ghana with a phone number using a one-day trial for GHS 10.63.

All you need is to sign up for the service of your choice, pay for the trial offer, and send a text message to the target. These services will display the person’s location on an interactive map when they click the location tracking link.

We recommend phone number tracking in Ghana to find people during riots or floods, since you don’t need to install an app on the phone. You can also use them for private tracing because they do not show the origin of a text message.

Try Detectico

Pros and Cons of Phone Number Trackers:

Using a mobile number tracker has its pros and cons.

Use Family Phone Trackers

A mobile phone tracker is a phone monitoring app that can track the features of a cell phone. Apps like mSpy or uMobix can upload the phone’s live location, read text messages, see digital activities, and even record keystrokes made on the target device.

Most such apps are created for parental control and require installation on an Android device, while you can monitor an iPhone remotely using the person’s iCloud credentials.

Try uMobix

Price: Approx. GHS 585.

Mobile phone trackers are essential for safeguarding kids. In addition to the mentioned problem of missing kids, Ghana faces severe underreporting of the children’s exposure to sexual content. According to UNICEF, two in five kids in Ghana have received messages containing sexual content.

Pros and Cons of Phone Trackers:

Using mobile phone trackers has its pros and cons.

Track Phone Number’s Owner in Ghanaian Phone Directories

A phone directory is a list of names, addresses, and phone numbers that help you match phone numbers with names and businesses. In Ghana, you can use the Yellow Pages Ghana platform to find businesses using their names and phone numbers.

For individual phone numbers, you can use reverse phone lookup tools such as Truecaller to identify whether an unknown phone number is a scam or not. Hence, you can avoid telephone scams. The Bank of Ghana estimates that GHS 12.8 million was lost to mobile money fraud in 2021 alone.

Pros and Cons of Reverse Phone Lookup:

Phone directories and reverse phone lookup services have their pros and cons.

Track Mobile Number in Ghana for Free Online and Anonymously

You can track a mobile number in Ghana online for free and anonymously by tracing its IP address. The idea is to send the target a link with a tracking code that the server will use to trace the phone’s location.

Identify an image, video, GIF, article, or any media with an interesting URL for the recipient to click.

1. Copy that media’s URL and paste it on a site that shortens links like IPLogger.org.
   
2. Create a short link and send it to the person with a message accompanying it to make it easy for them to tap it. You can send the URL using any messaging site.
   
3. Wait for them to tap the link, then refresh the link shortener website.
   
4. You will view the person’s IP address, location on a map, and information about the device they used to click the link.
   

How to Track Phone Using IMEI in Ghana

Your phone’s IMEI number can be used by the police and mobile phone carriers to trace its location, but not by individuals.

You will need to identify your phone’s IMEI before it gets lost or by looking at its package box. Then, contact the police, who may require a warrant to trace the IMEI.

The police will contact phone carriers and may receive a response within days. However, this process could take long and may not yield the desired results. Meanwhile, it’s best to block your SIM by contacting your phone carrier.

Turn to Ghanaian Phone Carriers

You will need a new SIM card if your phone gets lost in Ghana. Visit an MTN service center or Vodafone shop for assistance with getting a new SIM card for an MTN or Vodafone line.

If you have an AirtelTigo line, you can call AT customer care at 0260000100 or SMS 100 to get assistance if your AT phone is stolen.

Similarly, you’ll need to visit a Glo outlet for a new Glo Mobile SIM card with your National Identity Number.

Comparison of the Tools for Mobile Phone Tracking

To choose the best phone tracking solution in Ghana, compare them in the table below.

Is it Legal to Track a Mobile Phone in Ghana?

It is not illegal to track a mobile phone in Ghana since there are no direct laws governing phone location data in the country. However, it is advisable to seek consent from the individual before processing their private data, according to the Private Data Protection Act, 2012.

Conclusion

Knowing how to track a phone is helpful, especially in Ghana, where civil unrest and crime are rampant. You can recover a lost cell phone faster with a brand locator than with the police.

If you need to help a friend navigate to a destination, location sharing can help them travel safely. Mobile number trackers are great for places with poor network connectivity, and mobile phone monitoring apps can bring your child home if they ever go missing.