5 Reasons Not to Install a Free Phone Tracker App Without Permission

If you want to keep track of your loved ones' whereabouts in the real word, you may think it’s a great idea to install a free phone tracker app without permission. While this can be very tempting, it’s always a bad move to track a phone without the user knowing. Here’s why.

1. There Are Better Options Available

Let’s assume that you’re a good person. You’re concerned for the welfare of your lover, your spouse, your sibling, child, or friend.

Maybe you’re worried that they go to some risky places, and you may need to pick them up when they’re incapable of calling to tell you where they are. It might seem reasonable for you to use an app to track their phone without permission, but there are better options available.

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If you and your target know and trust each other, it’s easy toset up location sharing on iPhone, or, using Google Maps on Android,track your friends in real-time.

There is no additional software needed, and this way, both of you will know where the other is at all times.

being arrested police

2. Tracking a Phone Without the User Knowing Is Creepy

If you may’t persuade your friend to share their location using Google Maps, or let you track them on iPhone, you’re probably now searching for the best phone tracker app which you can install without permission.

Just stop there for a minute. Doesn’t that sound a bit creepy to you? Sinister maybe? Is this something you would be embarrassed about if other people found out? Would you be ashamed if it came up in court? If you can answer yes to any of these questions, you shouldn’t be installing a good phone tracker app without permission.

peephole watching

3. Installing a Free Phone Tracker App Can Ruin Relationships

Regardless how well-meaning your intentions, installing software on someone else’s phone without permission is a betrayal of trust.

If they’re already a part of your life, the person you want to track already trusts you with many things—including physical access or proximity to their phone. By installing a tracker app without permission, you’re undermining that trust, and when they find out (and yes, they will eventually find out), you may discover that they no longer trust you with anything at all.

woman waking away from man standing next to a tree

4. Tracking Someone Without Permission Is Stalking

Stalking laws vary across the United States, but most include actions such as following someone—the fact that you’re doing it through a sneaky phone tracking app, rather than in person, is unlikely to make much difference.

These interactions must be unwanted and unwelcome by the recipient to be classed as stalking. That you’ve resorted to installing a phone tracking app without permission is a solid indicator it’s both unwelcome and unwanted.

mannequins in orange plastic with a sticker reading ‘stalking’ over their eyes

5. Accessing Someone’s Phone Location Without Permission Is a Crime

All 50 states, plus several US territories, have computer crime laws. These make it clear that it’s a criminal offense to access, store data in, retrieve data from, or otherwise intercept and change computer resources without consent.

Your target’s phone is actually a computer, and by accessing it, and retrieving location information from it without permission, you are, in fact, a criminal.

In addition, 21 states plus Guam and Puerto Rico have lawsexpressly targeting spyware. And software to secretly track a phone without them knowing definitely comes under that heading.

Installing a Free Phone Tracker App Without Permission Isn’t the Best Idea

By sneaking a tracker app onto someone’s phone without consent, you’re putting your personal relationship in danger. You’re also putting yourself in serious legal jeopardy, with potential charges ranging from stalking to computer misuse. At the very least, it’ll come off as sinister and extremely creepy.

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