6 Best Affordable Cell Phone Tracker Apps

In 2010, the users of portable devices operating on iOS were the first to appreciate the benefits of a built-in search system for their gadgets, making the recovery of a forgotten or stolen phone much easier. Android phone apps only caught up in 2013 – and now, twelve years later, the demand for cell phone tracker solutions spawned an entire industry of third-party apps that expand on the original functions of Find My iPhone and provide affordable tracking services.

Best Phone Tracker Apps: Quick Glance

1. 🏆uMobix: Phone Tracker App For Android and iOs Devices;
2. 🥈SpyBubble: Phone Tracker Application to Catch a Cheating Spouse;
3. 🥉GeoFinder: Track Phone Location of Any Phone Number;
4. Hoverwatch: Best Cell Phone Tracking App for Android (Overall);

Such software captures the GPS data sent and received by a smartphone in real time to establish its current whereabouts and does this precisely to an 8-meter range. While it may not be enough to help with a cell phone search at home, such accuracy has numerous applications for tracking on a larger scale (even following up on location using a phone tracker by number), apart from enabling the use of Google Maps and photos containing positioning data.

Reasons to Use a Cell Phone Tracker App

Most often, people resort to using phone tracking apps when they have a habit of leaving their phone elsewhere – provided that the phone and the app work properly. Simply accessing the online dashboard is all it takes to see the live location of the target device and whether it remains where they think they have left it or has already got moved into a thief’s pocket.

Leaving small children at home or allowing them to go to school and back on their own is a reasonable cause for anxiety. Buying them an inexpensive gadget and having a phone tracking app installed on their phone surely outweighs the potential risks of your child getting too involved with exploring the web – and some cell phone tracker apps, as you shall see, allow preventing that as well.

We shall not be exploring the opportunities provided by phone tracker apps when it comes to couple infidelity for moral reasons, but sure enough, a substantial portion of subscriptions to phone location services stems from anxiety and foreboding caused by suspicious partner behavior in a relationship.

When choosing a tracker app, you should first consider how many of the available functions you are going to use – and thus, potentially, save on the subscription price. While our list title mentions both paid and free tracking apps, ‘free’ here means that you either get a severely abridged version of the app that may render it useless for you or a trial period with an automatic subscription activation for creating an account with your credit card details.

Top Rated Phone Tracking Apps. Free & Paid

The paid and free mobile tracker apps featured below have been selected in accordance with the following criteria:

• Being able to provide accurate GPS location data;
• Being free of any suspicious functions and backdoors that may leak your data;
• Having consistently favorable reviews over a period no less than a year prior to the day of writing.

In each mobile tracker overview, you’ll find the basic description of the product, the list of things it can be used for, and the current pricing information. Make an informed decision with our list of top-rated free solutions.

1. uMobix – Best Phone Tracker For Parental Control

Advertised as an advanced phone tracker for parents, uMobix packs a wide range of functions far exceeding the task of establishing a phone location. With the free mobile tracking app installed on the target phone or integrated into the cloud ecosystem of the user’s account, uMobix gains access to basically anything stored and processed on the device at a moment’s notice.

Current Capabilities:

• Fully functional without installation on the target device (for iPhone owners);
• Invisible to the device user if installed, can’t be closed or deleted by the target;
• Dashboard for oversight in real time, containing cell phone location data, screen time, calls, messages in native and third-party apps, media, and more.

Phone tracker is distributed with several subscription models, allowing you to cut down on the cost by opting for longer plans. A monthly package that includes full-feature support costs $49.99.

2. SpyBubblePro – Track iOS and Android Devices in Real-Time

A close competitor of the previous entry, SpyBubblePro is a phone tracker app with a very similar list of supported functions, but it still manages to stand out with a couple of unique features – namely, direct device-to-device audio and video streaming that enhance location tracking with the actual data from the target device microphone and camera. SpyBubble is a handy cheating buster if you want to track a cell phone without them knowing.

Current Capabilities:

• Undetectable phone tracker with a stealth mode;
• Manipulation with data, software, and calls through remote mobile phone control;
• Accurate location on the map synced in real time;
• Access to current data across all apps, as well as recently deleted files, calls, and text messages.

Using this phone spy app costs $49.99 per month as well, so when deciding whether to go for uMobix or SpyBubblePro, you might want to consider secondary characteristics, like the dashboard convenience, reported response time, and the support of the applications you might be particularly interested in.

3. GEOfinder – Cell Phone Tracker by Phone Number

GEOfinder is a straightforward software solution that can only be used as a GPS phone tracker. Despite seemingly limited functionality, the app has an undeniable advantage over the phone trackers reviewed above – namely, being able to track real-time location with as little as the target’s active phone number. All you have to do is send them an SMS with a link that is actually a masked request to pinpoint the location of the device.

Current Capabilities:

• Accurate cell phone tracking without additional software or the target’s personal data;
• Fully impersonal – the incoming message can’t be traced to the original sender;
• Customizable location sharing request.

If you are looking for free phone tracker apps, GEOfinder is a go-to option since it offers a free trial on condition that you sign up for the service. The trial lasts 24 hours upon subscription; then the chosen subscription plan comes into force – the monthly fee, for instance, equals $39.99.

4. Hoverwatch – Affordable Cell Phone Tracking App

Hoverwatch is yet another comprehensive phone tracker that is almost identical to uMobix and SpyBubblePro. Upon several tests, we have established the minor discrepancies that may ultimately sway your choice in favor of one of the products: uMobix phone tracker app allows you to monitor activities with a lower response latency for the ultimate real-time tracking experience, while Hoverwatch has a handy frontal camera streaming feature.

Current Capabilities:

• Concealed operation on the target device;
• Continuously updated GPS tracking data;
• Quick access to all the data stored in the phone’s physical memory, SIM card, and cloud storage.

All in all, Hoverwatch borders on being a carbon copy of the tracker apps featured above, offering a similar experience for the same monthly price of $49.99. Its dashboard design is slightly less messy than that of SpyBubblePro, albeit the customer support may be sluggish at times. Noteworthy, it claims to uncover cell phone location for free (provided by a free trial), so using it is food for thought.

5. LocationTracker – Find Someone’s Location on Google Maps for $1

With LocationTracker, you can track cell phone locations instantly by making them click on a sharing request disguised as a link to an image. This is arguably a more surefire way to track cell phones of people you aim to protect, as they are more likely to click on a captivating picture sent by someone they actually know.

Current Capabilities:

• Sending masked GPS tracker requests with an image of choice to grasp real-time location;
• Gathering data on the current WiFi connection of the target device;
• Double-checking the location using the target’s active IP address.

LocationTracker is monetized similarly to GEOfinder, the only difference being that you can run the app for free for $1. If you are satisfied with the results thereof, you can keep using the app to track phone locations for a monthly fee of $39.99.

6. Cocospy – Best for Hidden Tracking Capabilities

To round up our list, we include Cocospy, another monitoring app with overwhelmingly positive reviews online. Cocospy is positioning itself as a versatile family locator app, and the claim lived up to our expectations.

Current Capabilities

• Completely invisible to manual and software checkups upon installation;
• Full-scale phone tracking, including deleted browser history and monitoring of less common apps, such as Discord;
• Instant keylogging, allowing you to watch the user as they type messages in real time;

While Cocospy is definitely coming from the same direction as the other three phone tracking apps on the list, it has a particularly smooth and responsive dashboard and some extra remote tracker options you might find of use, all available at the already familiar price of $49.99 per month.

Final Words

Establishing a link with someone else’s device you want to find is the hardest part of phone location tracking. This can be done by either obtaining the target’s cloud storage credentials, physically manipulating their phone, or convincing them to share the GPS data. After you succeed in either, the rest is done by your cell phone tracker of choice. Among the ways to track a cell phone for free mentioned in this article, there are much more than that, such as built-in Find My Device for Android and Find My for iOS that also show location history, but it’s the topic for another article.

The available range of phone tracking apps allows you to decide on how much detail you want to end up with and how much you are willing to pay for that – from single-use services to a complete remote takeover of the mobile phone. We hope that you will use cell phone tracker apps featured in this article to protect the people you love and care for.

FAQ

Below you’ll find the answers to the questions that often remain unaddressed on the phone number tracker websites:

Does using cell phone tracker apps violate any existing laws or regulations?

All the apps capable of pinning down someone’s physical location balance on the legal side of things by implying that you will not use any of their functions against an individual oblivious to such oversight. Ideally, the customers aren’t supposed to track anyone except their own underage children equipped with devices purchased by their parents.

Is it possible to find a cell phone tracker that doesn’t cost anything?

We strongly advise against so much as visiting websites that promise a free cell phone tracker of such kind, let alone attempting to download and use one. You must understand that creating and maintaining tracking software is costly, so the price is, in most cases, justified. The resources that allegedly offer free phone tracking are, at best, useless.

Do I need to physically access the target phone prior to using a cell phone tracker?

It depends both on the type of spy app you are using and on what sort of gadget you are targeting. Despite the arguably higher overall level of security, iOS devices are easier to spy on if you have access to the user’s iCloud and don’t require installing software to see the current location. However, the best free phone tracker apps, such as GEOfinder, work around most limitations, but they have caveats of their own.

Can I use cell phone tracker apps to identify the location on a map regardless of the mobile device type?

As long as the device in question is equipped with a GPS module, the answer is yes – it will show the location on Google Maps in case all necessary steps are complied with. The operating system, as well as the model or type of the cell phone or tablet, do not matter. The only two ways your target can avoid this type of surveillance is by either turning their device off (then you’ll be left with the last available location) or by using an older generation phone.

Disclaimer : The above is a sponsored article and the views expressed are those of the sponsor/author and do not represent the stand and views of The Tribune editorial in any manner.