Can we locate a user via user's phone number in Android?

Question

Is it possible to locate a user via user's phone number in Android? If an SMS can be sent to the user then we can also retrieve or get to know the location of the user who we sending the SMS.

I mean is it possible to program the following functionality:

1. App sends SMS to user's phone
2. App recieves SMS at user's phone from the SMS sender
3. App gets location coordinates of the user's phone
4. App sends location coordinates to the SMS sender via SMS

Also is it possible to retrieve the required location of the user via user's phone number via any other means apart from SMS, EMAIL or CALL?

How come Viber and VChat apps are locating user locations via their phone numbers?

Here are some apps on the app store:

1. Cell Tracker
2. Mobile Number & Phone Location
3. Mobile Number Locator

Seeking for a reliable answer.

Answer 1

Yess, possible with conditions:

If you have your app installed in the user phone and a server app communicating with this app, and there at last one of location service providers activated in the user phone, and some horrible android permissions!

In most of android phones there 3 location providers that can give exact location (GPS_PROVIDER 1m) or estimated (NETWORK_PROVIDER around 2-20m) and PASSIVE_PROVIDER (more in LocationManager official documentation).

1* App sends SMS to user's phone

Yess, can be server app or you create an android app if you want something automated, so you can do it manually by sending SMS from your default SMS app! I use Kannel: Open Source WAP and SMS Gateway and here (lot of APIs to send SMS )

2* App receives SMS at user's phone from the SMS sender

Yess, you can get all received SMS, and you can filter them by sender phone number! and do some actions when your specified sms received, basic tuto here (i do some actions according to the content of my SMS)

3* App gets location coordinates of the user's phone

Yess, you can get actual user coordinates easily if one of location providers is activated, so you can get last known location when the user have activated one of location providers, if those disabled or the phone don't have GPS hardware you can use Open Cell Id api to get the nearest cell coordinates(10m-10Km) or Loc8 api but those not available in all around the world, and some apps use IP location apis to get the country, city and province, here the simplest way to get current user location.

4* App sends location coordinates to the SMS sender via SMS

Yess, you can get sender phone number and send user location, immediately when SMS received or at specified times in the day.

(Those 4 yesses for you :) )

Viber and other apps that access to users locations, identify there users by there phone numbers by obligating them to send SMS to the server app to create an account and activate the free service (Ex:VOIP) , and lunch a service that can:

• Listen for location changes (GPS, Network or Cell Id)
• Send user location periodically(Ex: each 2 hours) or when user position changed!
• Stock user locations in file and create a map based on daily locations
• Receive SMS and update user location
• Receive server app commend and update user location
• Send events when user go inside or outside of a defined circle
• Listen for what user say and record it or open live voip call :s
• Maybe anything you think or u want to do :) !

And your application users must accept all of that when installing it, of corse i don't gonna install apps like this because i read permissions before installing :) and permissions maybe something like that:

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.RECEIVE_SMS"></uses-permission>
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.READ_SMS" />
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.SEND_SMS"></uses-permission>

<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.ACCESS_FINE_LOCATION" />    
<uses-permission android:name="android.permission.INTERNET" />
<-- and more if you wanna more -->

The final user will accept for something like that (those permissions of an android app u asked about):

This app has access to these permissions:

Your accounts -create accounts and set passwords -find accounts on the device -add or remove accounts -use accounts on the device -read Google service configuration

Your location -approximate location (network-based) -precise location (GPS and network-based)

Your messages -receive text messages (SMS) -send SMS messages -edit your text messages (SMS or MMS) -read your text messages (SMS or MMS)

Network communication -receive data from Internet -full network access -view Wi-Fi connections -view network connections -change network connectivity

Phone calls -read phone status and identity -directly call phone numbers

Storage -modify or delete the contents of your USB storage

Your applications information -retrieve running apps -close other apps -run at startup

Bluetooth -pair with Bluetooth devices -access Bluetooth settings

Camera -take pictures and videos

Other Application UI -draw over other apps

Microphone -record audio

Lock screen -disable your screen lock

Your social information -read your contacts -modify your contacts -read call log -write call log -read your social stream -write to your social stream

Development tools -read sensitive log data

System tools -modify system settings -send sticky broadcast -test access to protected storage

Affects battery -control vibration -prevent device from sleeping

Audio settings -change your audio settings

Sync Settings -read sync settings -toggle sync on and off -read sync statistics

Wallpaper -set wallpaper

Answer 2

I checked play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=and.p2l&hl=en They are not locating the user's current location at all. So based on the number itself they are judging the location of the user. Like if the number starts from 240 ( in US) they they are saying location is Maryland but the person can be in California. So i don't think they are getting the user's location through LocationListner of Java at all.

Answer 3

Quick answer: No, at least not with native SMS service.

Long answer: Sure, but the receiver's phone should have the correct setup first. An app that detects incoming sms, and if a keyword matches, reports its current location to your server, which then pushes that info to the sender.