But why? Why would you want to do such a thing, like prying on the location of a person? Well, some corporations want to monitor the smartphones of their employees as a part of a foolproof plan to ensure the safety of their trade secrets. Then, there are parents who want to keep their children safe from dangerous neighborhoods, so they also resort to smartphone monitoring.
If you do not advocate all that, we understand that! You do not have to go through the rest of this blog post. But if you give us a chance, we might be able to get you into the shoes of the people who do all that.
Meet Jason. He runs an e-commerce store. But he has experienced recurring thefts at work. And not just any kind of theft, but that of his business ideas. He fears that one of his employees might be sharing company secrets.
Meet Hannah. Her daughter is fragile and showing signs of clinical depression. Hannah has taken her daughter to the doctor and getting the medication done. But she is worried about the borderline behavior of her daughter. Hannah sees her daughter spending an enormous amount of time on her phone with a more aggravated attitude during that time. She believes that by monitoring the smartphone of her daughter, she might be able to get to the bottom of the issue.
Meet Ashley. She thinks her husband is cheating. But his husband is a private person and never opens up about anything. She does not know how else to get the truth out of him than spying on his phone.
Above are some possible scenarios where people may be encouraged to spy/monitor, but note that only Ashley is performing an illicit activity. Why? Because she is not taking the legal consent of his husband before putting any spyware on his phone. However, both Hannah and Jason can legally monitor their kids and employees, respectively. In fact, In the case of Hannah, it is not even necessary for her to take the legal consent of her minor daughter (more on that later).
If you are on board, here is how you can monitor the location of any person you know using their smartphone.
You need a reliable smartphone monitoring software
For the rest of this article, we will be reviewing a location-tracking app from Xnspy. The software is affordable and comes with an assortment of tracking features. Once you have subscribed to Xnspy or an equivalent service, it is then time to learn how to get started with it.
Download and Installation
Xnspy will require you to download its software to the Android phone you are interested in monitoring. The service also works with iOS but requires a lot more than just a download. But we will focus on the Android variant here because that allows for a more real-time location-tracking experience.
Xnspy Dashboard
Once Xnspy is successfully set up, it is time to sign in to your web account. The control panel sports an interactive dashboard that is intuitive to use. Your web-account credentials are emailed to you upon subscribing to Xnspy.
Navigating the location-tracking feature
On your Xnspy Dashboard, navigate to the left side of the screen and select the Locations tab from the menu. On the Locations screen, scroll down to view the location history of the monitored user.
Xnspy also comes with an alert feature that you can use to get instant email notifications for the watch listed locations. The location watchlisting feature uses geofencing technology to track the entry and exit points. You can add multiple locations to the watch list and can also choose to get an alert on entry or exit from that location.
Other features
There are many other things that you could do with Xnspy. You can monitor social media, IM apps, emails, browsing history, contacts, call logs, and multimedia of the monitored user. And if all that is not too much for you, there are options to record surroundings, take screenshots, and record calls.
The good thing is that you can always toggle on/off the features. The bad thing: There is no transparency. Your children or employees could never know what you can see. They could go online and check the entire feature list of Xnspy and assume you are looking into their entire smartphone activity.
Device compatibility options
Xnspy works with Android and iOS. You can use the software on any smartphone running Android 4.0 and above or iOS 6.0 and above.
Pricing options
Unless you are opting for the yearly subscriptions from Xnspy, it could get expensive. And for that same reason, we suggest that you go for either quarterly or year-long packages unless you have short-term monitoring needs. Xnspy comes in basic and premium versions. The Basic Edition costs you USD 4.99/month (when billed annually), and the Premium Edition is USD 7.49/month with the annual billing option.
The legal aspects of smartphone monitoring
The U.S. allows for an awful lot of surveillance options. But it is good news for those who want to improve their office productivity and protect trade secrets, or parents who want to help their kids have a safer digital experience. But how you can do the surveillance in an office space or at home is very well defined in the U.S. surveillance laws.
Employers can only monitor the company-issued smartphones that are under the use of their employees. Companies also need to have written consent from the employees. Many companies have built the surveillance-part into the employee contracts, so the workforce has no choice but to take it or leave it.
Parents, however, can track the devices of their minor kids without taking their legal consent. That is true for most U.S. states, but still, do check with your local surveillance laws to be sure you are not in one of those few unlucky states. All in all, Xnspy is a legal location tracking software with a plethora of features. You can also read Xnspy customer reviews here
