Tracking a phone is no longer a fantasy thing, it came out from Hollywood thrillers to everyday life long ago. Today, you don’t need to be an FBI or CIA operative to track someone’s phone by phone number; you can easily do that with apps that are readily available for you to download.
With the rapid technological expansion in the smartphone industry, this phone tracking technology is far more sophisticated and accessible than it was ever before. However, with an abundance of such new phone tracker apps, and their never-ending feature lists, it can be a little overwhelming for us to choose the best one.
Hence, we decided to put up a few such apps in this article and compare their features, prices, etc. so that you can decide which one you should go for. So, without wasting any more time, let’s get started in our quest to find the free cell phone tracker app.
How to track someone’s location without them knowing?
For tracking a cell phone location for free on an Android or iPhone, you must make it installed on that device first obviously. And to install the app, you have to have the phone on your hand (because obviously the victim won’t install a spy app on his/her smartphone willingly knowing what it does), and do it yourself.
Theoretically, you can inject a spy app by sending it as a payload attaching with an innocent-looking image file through WhatsApp or other messenger apps. Once the person taps on the image file, the hidden payload will start installing itself in the background without alerting the victim.
This is possible in theory, but as you can clearly see that it won’t work most of the time because too many factors are involved.
Read more: How to Track a Cell Phone Location without Installing Software?
Top 3 Best Phone Tracker Apps Without Permission
Using a phone tracker app probably the easiest thing one ever did on a smartphone as it doesn’t need any intervention to work, it’s like ‘set and forget’. Once you install it, it will start working on its own and will continue to monitor every possible activity being carried over with that phone.
Unless, of course, the victim does a factory reset, in that case, the spy app will be removed from the phone, and you have to install it again on the target phone by accessing it physically.
It’s up to you what you want to monitor with such apps as most of the known phone spy apps track almost everything you ever need. From call interception to SMS, from camera photos to the file manager, from the contact list to browsing history, from instant messaging (WhatsApp, Snapchat, etc.) to real-time location, each and everything can be tracked by a good spy app while hiding itself inside the phone.
Almost every spy app send the monitoring report via multiple ways, through SMS, email, and web platform. You can choose to review the tracking report from your email or by logging in to the web account any time you want and can get the real-time update by SMS to your phone as well.
The target phone needs to be connected to the internet by Wi-Fi or mobile data for you to receive the tracking update as an offline smartphone can’t be tracked obviously.
Here we will discuss a few popular tracking apps and will compare their features, prices, etc. so that you can take an informed decision while selecting the best app to track phone without them knowing. So, without further ado, let’s get started.
mSpy
This is probably the most popular iPhone spy app available in 2021, and there’s some good reason behind its popularity.
Location tracking: It can locate the target phone with high accuracy, and update you via SMS in real-time.
Geo-fencing: You will get notified once the phone crosses a pre-determined zone. Notifications will be delivered by email or SMS instantly. You can set unlimited such areas in your account dashboard.
Call log monitoring: You can check the log of each and every incoming and outgoing call of the device you’re targeting. This is a handy feature if you want to know who the people your little kid is befriending with.
Incoming call restriction: If you suspect some numbers, you can prevent incoming calls from those specific numbers to your kids mobile; hence keeping them safe from being contacted with potential harms.
Social media and instant messaging apps monitoring: Today, social media is prevalent, and even kids are actively participating in such platforms and using various instant messaging apps. Kids even tend to put false DoB to register themselves as adults and get themselves exposed to numerous potential threats. mSpy would help you by monitoring each and every message, update, post, and comment they are sending and receiving with their phone.
NEXSPY
Despite being a newer player in the market compared to other apps in this list, NEXSPY already has shown immense potential to be a tough contender. With many unique features and a great price point, it’s the new favorite for many people who wants the best GPS phone tracker app.
The most accurate GPS tracking: Unlike other apps, NEXSPY combines multiple factors like GPS positioning, cell tower location, and IP address to track the device location within just few meters. This is a very unique feature that will be most useful for the parents who want to know every whereabout of their children.
Geo-fencing: Create unlimited geo-areas and get notified instantly whenever your kid crosses the border of a particular zone. Most useful for those who want to keep an eye if their kids are really at the place where they are supposed to be at a given time.
Internet activities: Be it browsing history or youtube video, saved bookmarks or Wi-Fi connection history, everything you’ll know inside your user account. There is nothing your kid can hide while they are doing anything online with their phone, period.
Call recording: Apart from getting the call history log, you can also choose to listen to what they are talking with other people. This is another unique benefit of NEXSPY that will save the call recordings as audio files inside your account for you to listen to. You can choose to call recording for every incoming and outgoing call, or you can select some specific numbers.
Keylogger: Now every password and every login details are there for you to see, no single account of your children will be hidden from your caring eyes, no matter what the site or app it is. With keylogger function, you will be able to see every keystroke made on the target device.
Surrounding listening: This is probably the most powerful feature of this app, which will enable you to listen whatever your kids are saying or any other sound around them, giving you a perfect picture of where they are and what they are doing exactly. This feature makes use of the phone’s microphone and starts capturing any sound around the phone and send you the recording in real-time.
Read more: How To Track Someone Else’s iPhone Without Them Knowing
Hoverwatch
Another app in our list is Hoverwatch, and though it may not seem as feature-rich as the previous two, it doesn’t mean it’s any slouch either. Almost all the standard features a good Android spy app should offer, you’ll get them all from this app.
Phone location tracking: It tracks the phone’s location in real-time, and show you the exact location on a map.
Call recorder and SMS tracking: The app will record every call (or some particular calls) and save as HD quality audio files for you to download from the user area. Also, it keeps copies of all the messages. Nothing will go unnoticed, you can rest assured.
Browser history tracking: It’s a standard feature that you’ll get in any tracking app. however, unlike other apps, this app works in all the major phone browsers, like Chrome, Firefox, etc.
Facebook message tracking: Every messenger and facebook posts made by your kid will be in front of your eyes, so you won’t have to wonder what’s he or she up to!
Spying on WhatsApp messages: Like Facebook, parents can read all the WhatsApp chats of their child.
Sim change detection: Is your kid smart enough to change the sim card before talking/messaging with some particular people? No more. This app will detect the sim change and will alert you instantly.
Camera tracking: Whenever the device is unlocked by a user, the app will take a selfie of the user using the front camera and save it to your account. It will help in case of detecting any unauthorized access.
Screenshot monitoring: You can set the app to take a screenshot of the device at a regular interval so that you can learn what app your kid is using and when.
How To Choose The Right GPS Tracker?
Device compatibility
All three apps are compatible for both Android and iOS; hence, device compatibility shouldn’t be an issue regardless which app you select. NEXSPY works on both PC and Mac along with mobile devices giving it a bit edge over the other two apps in the compatibility section.
Price comparison
All three apps mentioned above are premium apps, and they cost monthly/yearly subscription fee. So, people who just want to have some “fun,” can look for other free apps to track a cell phone location that have far fewer features – these apps in our list are for those who have serious needs and don’t mind to pay the price.
The first app, mSpy, has three packages starting from $29.99 and can go up to $69.99 per month. The pricing structure of mSpy is a bit complicated, it’s better to talk to a live support agent on their site to decide the best package for you.
NEXSPY – our second contender, has a more straightforward plan of payment based on monthly, quarterly, and yearly – which starts from $19 per month only if you go annual basis.
The last app from our list is Hoverwatch, and it will set you back for a minimum of $8.33 (personal plan, yearly basis).
Read more: How to Track My Child’s Phone Without Them Knowing?
Last words of advice: Best Phone Tracker Apps
Choosing the best one among three very similar apps that offer almost identical features are not easy. Still, if we have to choose one, our vote will go for NEXSPY.
Yes, it’s not the cheapest one, but it’s not the most expensive one out of three we reviewed here. And at the same time, it has more unique features than the other two; also it’s the only app which work in all four platforms – Android, iOS, PC, and Mac.
Read more: How to Find Someone’s Location by Cell Phone Number?
