Affiliate Disclaimer Cell phone tracking is the process of identifying a moving or stationary mobile phone’s location. It involves the use of positioning technologies such as GNSS. Tracking a cell phone in South Africa can be vital, especially because of the high smartphone theft rate, which saw an increase of 7.9% in 2023. It can also prove handy during riots or in the case of a kidnapping.
This article will guide you on how to track a phone number, find a lost or stolen phone, share your location, and even trace a phone number using a reverse phone search.
Don’t have time to read? You can locate someone using their phone number online right now via platforms that proved to be the most effective: Scannero, Detectico, or GEOfinder. They offer cheap trials of less than R19.
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- Number Tracking
- Phone Lookup
Free Brand Apps to Track Phone Location
Popular mobile brands in South Africa like Samsung, Apple, Huawei, and Nokia have their phone locator apps. They can serve as the first option when tracking a lost or stolen phone in South Africa, especially if you live in high-crime areas like Durban and Johannesburg.
Best For: Locating a lost or stolen smartphone.
Price: Free.
Pros:
- reliable and fast means of tracking a lost or stolen cell phone;
- most send messages and alerts to lost device;
- track all your devices on one account.
Cons:
- may drain the phone’s battery fast when in constant use;
- most apps only locate their brand phones.
Below are the popular locator apps from phone brands:
Find Lost Samsung with SmartThings Find
The SmartThings Find app comes preinstalled on your Samsung Galaxy device. You will need a Samsung account to access devices on the app. Hence, if you don’t already have an account, it will prompt you to create one when you open it. The service uses Bluetooth LE and ultra-wideband wireless to find Galaxy devices.
When locating a Samsung smartphone using SmartThings Find, you must open the app or online service from a browser. Once you log in to your account, you will see the lost device on a map. It will also show you the location’s address and the time the device was at that location. If the device goes offline for 30 minutes, it will emit a BLE signal sent to other Galaxy devices that can help you find it.
Apple’s Find My
The Find My app works similarly and can show you lost devices from the Apple ecosystem. If your iPhone is lost or stolen, you can either use the Find My app on another iPhone or log in to your iCloud account to use the Find My service.
Furthermore, it can also show the cell phone’s last location if it runs out of battery when you are tracking it. Find My notifies you if the phone goes online when it’s switched back on.
Huawei Find My Phone
If you lose a Huawei phone, the Find My Phone app can help you locate it. Huawei Find My Phone traces it if it’s online and displays its location on a map.
Besides, if the phone is nearby, you use the play sound feature to play the ringtone at the highest volume. If the phone is not nearby, you can lock it, reset the unlock feature, and prevent further battery drain so you can find it before it goes offline.
Find My Device for Google account’s users
You need to log in to your Google account to use the Find My Device service. You will see your phone’s approximate location on the map if your phone is online.
If the phone is offline, you will see its last known location. You can play sound, leave a message on the screen, or erase the phone remotely if there’s no hope of recovering it.
Use Messengers for Locating Someone
South African most popular messaging apps are WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Vodacom’s Vodafone Message+, and WeChat. These messengers have a location-sharing feature that allows you to tell your family and friends your location or get a specific location of them.
Best For: Brief location sharing with family and friends.
Price: Free.
Below are the instructions on how to use the location-sharing feature on WhatsApp.
- Open WhatsApp on your mobile phone. Click on an individual or group chat that you want to share location with.
- Click on the attach icon and choose “Location”> “Share Live Location.”
- Select a time to share the live location, from 15 minutes up to 8 hours.
- Click the “Send” icon, and WhatsApp will start sharing the live location.
- You can stop sharing the location at any time by clicking Settings > Privacy > Live Location, then tap Stop Sharing > Stop.
Pros:
- free and quick to use;
- easy to coordinate with a group of people in one chat.
Cons:
- have time limits on the shared location;
- you cannot share location on a PC or Mac.
How to Trace a Phone Number in South Africa
Dedicated phone number locators allow tracking someone’s location with a phone number in South Africa. Most of them can track not just SA phone numbers but cell phone numbers worldwide. You can start with “Free Phone Number Tracker South Africa” from HeyLocate: just type in a phone number and find a location free of charge in South Africa.
Best For: Finding a phone number location anonymously.
Price: Trials at less than R19. Approx. R931/month.
This method works as a GPS cell phone locator when you want to track someone’s location with phone number without them knowing.
For example, with Scannero, you only need to type in the phone number, create a message, and send them the text with a location tracking link. Once the person clicks on it, it gets the device’s IP address and displays the location on Google Maps.
As you can see, this method does not depend on an internet connection. Hence, you can use it to track someone in a remote location with intermittent network access, for example, during a safari to Madikwe Game Reserve or Karoo National Park, or if you find yourself in a street riot.
Pros:
- may help find a loved one in an urgent situation;
- no app is required;
- most offer cheap trials.
Cons:
- they do not always show the live location of the moving phone;
- features may be limited depending on the service you choose.
Feel The Power of Phone Trackers
A phone tracker uses software to track a location and other activity of the cell phone. You can also use it to track a child’s digital life, but it needs to be installed on the target mobile phone.
Phone trackers can display the phone’s call logs, contacts, internet history, text messages, and media stored on the device. Besides, they use a combination of cell tower connections, GPS, and internet connection to show the phone’s live position.
One of the most popular phone tracker apps for monitoring a child’s phone is mSpy. It works on most mobile phones thanks to its wide OS compatibility.
Best For: Monitoring a child’s whereabouts.
Price: Approx. R915 per month.
Phone trackers for tracking a child’s online activities in SA are important for parents. Research by the World Economic Forum shows that 55% of polled South African kids have been victims of cyberbullying, and 18% had online sexual encounters.
UNICEF South Africa’s findings on a survey discovered that 70% of the children surveyed access the internet without parental consent. 18% of them had sent photos and videos to strangers online, while 67% of the children in the survey had seen sexual images through an online device.
Phone trackers can give you peace of mind while offering the proper guidance to your kids based on their online interactions. That’s why we recommend phone trackers to every parent in South Africa.
Pros:
- can block inappropriate sites and protect children from online threats;
- can track browsing history and social media activities;
- allow the setting of geofences to monitor a child’s movements.
Cons:
- require monthly subscriptions;
- may affect a parent-child relationship.
Phone Directories and Reverse Phone Lookup
Phone directories are online listings that assist people in finding phone numbers. Many online phone directories, like personlookup.co.za also offer reverse lookup searches where you enter a phone number, and you know its owner.
Nevertheless, during our testing, we didn’t get any results with any reverse phone lookup service in South Africa: even Google provides more information about certain number.
Still, you can seek the help of a reverse phone lookup app like Truecaller. It allows you to check whether the unknown number is spam or not. Some caller ID apps like Whoscall can reveal the person’s location and other contact information.
Such information is essential to avoid scams, since South Africa has one of the highest cybercrime rates in the world, and it ranks fifth on the Global Cyber Crime Density List.
Best For: Discovering the identity of an unknown number.
Price: Most are free.
Pros:
- large userbase helps to identify spam callers;
- can reveal the identity of a person behind the phone number.
Cons:
- can be a hit or miss if the number is not registered;
- most don’t show the phone number’s location.
How to Track a Phone Number in South Africa for Free and Anonymously
To track a phone number in South Africa free of charge and without the person knowing, use location tracking via IP address. To do this:
- Find an interesting image, online article, or video that you want to share with the person. The idea is to add a tracking code to the URL so that you can see their location once they click on the link.
- Copy the URL from the media you want to send and add the tracking code using an online link analyzer like https://grabify.link/ or https://iplogger.org/.
- Create a short link from the sites and send the link to the target.
- After they click on the link, the site will pick their location and know which device they used to open the link.
- You will then see detailed data about the user’s phone location and device.
How to Track a Stolen Phone Using IMEI Online in South Africa
Your smartphone has an IMEI number, which is a unique 15-digit code that stands for International Mobile Equipment Identify. While some services like imei-tracker.com claim they can help you track a cell phone using its IMEI, only the police can do this. Such sites are designed only to collect money from ads.
For the South African police can help you trace a phone number using its IMEI, you need to know it before your phone gets lost or stolen. Know your phone’s IMEI by dialing *#06#.
The police will contact South African phone carriers and network service providers.
Phone carriers and network providers can use the IMEI number to identify the phone, its location, and caller information. They may also blacklist the IMEI and make it unusable if the owner cannot recover the phone.
In SA, there are several phone carriers like Vodacom, MTN, Cell C, and Telkom.
If you lose a Vodacom phone, you can call Vodacom by dialing 135 to report a stolen Vodacom phone.
If you lose a Cell C phone, call 084 1555555 on a Cell C phone number for assistance with blocking a phone number.
Lastly, Telkom South Africa can blacklist your device if it’s lost or stolen by dialing 081 180 from a Telkom, Vodacom, Cell C, or MTN line.
Try MTN WhereRU Service
MTN is the only South African phone carrier that offers phone number location tracking using the MTN WhereRU service.
The MTN WhereRU location tracking service can find anyone who uses an MTN line. It works by sending an SMS that requests someone’s location. MTN will then send you an SMS with the person’s location or an MMS with a visual map of the person’s location.
Price: R12.49 per month.
Pros:
- cheap location tracking services;
- can track a cell phone number;
- works on all cell phones.
Cons:
- you can only track a consenting person;
- it charges to add a person to your consenting list.
Comparison of the Tools for Cell Phone Tracking
To summarize all the advantages and disadvantages of phone tracking methods, we have compiled the summary data into the table below.
| Service | Best For | Pros | Cons |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brand Locators | Find a lost or stolen cell phone | Preinstalled on the phone No charges to use it | Most show the approximate location Most don’t track someone’s phone |
| Messengers Location Sharing | Short-time location sharing with family and friends | Can track someone’s live location They show a person’s ETA | May give stalkers room for illegal location tracking |
| Mobile Number Trackers | Locating someone anonymously | Compatible with all operating systems Offer cheap trials | Don’t always show the live location The tracked person needs to click on the tracking link |
| Phone Monitoring Apps | Comprehensive monitoring solution for kids’ phones | Offer live-location tracking Can monitor other phone features | May negatively affect parent-child trust Requires monthly subscriptions |
| Reverse Phone Lookup | Revealing personal information behind unknown number | Provides full names and other personal details Can show if a caller is a spammer | Some information could be outdated |
Provide the Phone Number to Locate It Swiftly
- Number Tracking
- Phone Lookup
Is it Legal to Track a Phone Number Location in South Africa?
Location is part of personal information protected under the Protection of Personal Information Act, 2013. The POPI Act does not stop you from processing personal information. Still, you must do it while following the eight conditions of lawful processing of personal information in South Africa.
Still, tracking a phone in South Africa is crucial due to the rising smartphone theft rate and potential security challenges. We have shown you various methods of tracking a phone in SA using brand apps, carrier services, messengers, phone trackers, and phone directories.
You can also get help from the police, who can track a stolen phone through an IMEI number. Overall, one of these methods of tracking a phone can prove useful depending on the situation you find yourself in.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (FAQS)
Tracking a cell phone in South Africa is legal if you follow the POPI Act 2013 conditions.
Online phone tracking services can help you track a phone number in South Africa. Top recommended options are Scannero, Geofinder, and Detectico.
Most services offer cheap trial for less than R19, if you use third-party trackers like Scannero or Detectico.
To track the own phone’s location for free, use Google Maps’ Timeline feature or Google Find My Device app. To track someone’s phone location, use Google Maps’ Location Sharing feature or the similar feature in messengers.
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