Now a days with the advancement of the technologies, every working (access to email, the internet, GPS navigation, and many other applications) can be performed by the smartphones same as PCs and thus should be secured same as laptops, etc. However, smartphone security has not kept pace with computer security. Once the smartphones are stolen or lost they can reveal personal information, etc. Once the smartphone is stolen or lost there are many ways in which it can be located:
1. GPS: It uses a constellation of satellites that send location and timing data from space directly to your phone. If the phone can pick up signals from three satellites, it can show where you are on a flat map, and with four, it can also show your elevation.
2. Cell Id: it is a technology which tells where and what cell a customer is using. It is done by using identifying which sector of the base station cell is using. It is less precise.
3. Wi-Fi: It gives more precision. If the fingerprinting mechanism is created for the phones, so for the first time when the phones are connected the record can be maintained which can be used to identify the location of the phone later.
4. Bluetooth Beacons: Very precise location can be achieved in a specific area within a building using beacons that send out signals via Bluetooth.
These all the technology for tracking has limitations like GPS is not able to track the elevation sometime depending on how many satellites signal it catches.