Originally Posted By: haertig
It's a shame the guy died, but I'm wondering what the above statement means. Retrieval of a GPS location from someones phone - assuming they were attempting to do this without the phone owners participation/permission? If this is indeed what the statement means, while I can understand why rescuers would love to gain access to this type of information, I am dead set against them being able to. Or anybody being able to do it, for that matter.


There are two usually-used technical means to find a cellphone’s location along with two that are unusual. There are several legal means to obtain the information.

Addressing the technical side, the vast majority of phones made today have a Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) receiver, including the US GPS system, Europe’s Galileo, Russia’s GLONASS, China’s BeiDou, India’s IRNSS and Japan’s QZSS.

Any cellphone that is connected to a cellular service provider can be located to the cell tower it’s connected to. If multiple cell towers are within range, the cellular service provider can narrow this area down dramatically and provide a reasonably precise location without any GNSS signal — this is an inherent capability of cellular telephony systems.

At least a few US law enforcement agencies have fake cell tower devices commonly called “Stiingray” that can be used to intercept phone calls and locate devices precisely. Let’s not discuss the legalities of their use here, as that definitely would get into politics quickly.

Finally, I understand that in at least a few cases US military aircraft have used their electronic warfare capabilities to find a missing person’s cellphone by its radio emissions to assist SAR assets.

On the legal side, I have “Find My” turned on for my iPhone and iPad, so anyone with my AppleID credentials and the authorized members of my immediate family can find my iPhone and my iPad — non-Apple devices have similar capabilities. Hopefully nobody has my AppleID credentials but me. I understand that other platforms work very similarly.

If the police demand it, Apple and/or my cellular carrier will give the location data they have for my devices. For a criminal investigation this requires a warrant. I understand that in an emergency (such as someone missing in the wilderness or being kidnapped) there’s a way for law enforcement agencies to skip the warrant requirement.

While one can turn the GNSS components off on smartphones, connecting to a cell tower will always give your carrier some degree of location information for your device. There’s no way around it without Airplane Mode, turning the device off, or not carrying one at all.