Tracking someone’s location back in the day was not something everyone could do, but fast forward to today, even a kid can trace someone down. It’s all due to the advancement in technology and the rise of social media apps. These days people willingly share their location with their friends on social media sites like Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, etc. so it’s not that hard to find out where someone is at.
In this article, I will share with you some methods using which you can track someone on Facebook Messenger with or without them knowing. If you are a parent then it can help you ensure the safety of your kids. And in case you were deceived by your partner in the relationship then you can catch them red-handed by knowing their whereabouts.
Enough of talking, let’s get straight into the article and see how to track someone’s location through Facebook Messenger.
How To Track Someone Through Facebook Messenger Without Them Knowing
1. Without Account
I know you were here to learn how to locate someone through Facebook Messenger but trust me you cannot track them without notifying them using Facebook. If you want to track someone’s location on Messenger without them knowing then the best solution is to make use of Facebook location tracker apps such as mSpy.
This way you can even track someone even if you are not their Facebook friend. However, you will need to have physical access to their device once to install the tracking app on their phone. Once the app is installed, you don’t have to touch their phone ever again and you track their location without notifying them.
There are many spy apps that can do the job for you, but for this purpose I recommend mSpy. This spyware has an accurate location tracking capability which lets you see where exactly the target person is currently.
Besides just tracking location, it even allows you to set geofencing which means you can set a virtual fence on the map, and whenever the target person enters or exits that zone you get notified.
Apart from just tracking their location, with mSpy, you can also track their call logs, messages, and read their social media messages. So you are getting a complete package. If you’re interested in going with mSpy to track someone’s location then consider reading what I think about mSpy.
When Will This Method Work?: When you know the person and can have physical access to their device for a few minutes.
When Does It Not Work?: It won’t work if you want to track someone who lives away from you and you can’t have physical access to their phone.
2. Using The Facebook Messenger App
It’s really easy to track someone’s location using Messenger. However, you can’t do it secretly because the other person will know that you are tracking their location. If you are fine with that then you can follow these steps to check someone’s location on Facebook Messenger by following these steps.
1. Ask the target person to open the Facebook Messenger app on their smartphone.
2. After that, they need to open their chat with you on Messenger, and then they have to tap on the four-dot icon at the bottom left side.
3. Now they need to tap on the Location icon.
4. Confirm the use of the location feature by tapping OK.
5. In the next step, Messenger will ask for permission to use the location. Tap on ALLOW to give access.
6. Finally, they need to tap on the Share Live Location option.
You will receive a message on your Facebook Messenger with the live location of the targeted person.
But there’s one thing bad thing about location sharing on Messenger. It’s not possible to change the time for which the location has to be sent. Messenger has set the time for the live location to one hour and it’s not possible to reset that time.
Messenger also allows us to send the location of some other place. Just search the location using the search bar at the top and tap on the location that you want to send.
Is The Location Sent By The Kid Really Live?
Many of you might be thinking to use Messenger to track your kids. But there are chances that your kids are not actually present at the place.
They can easily use the search option and send you the location where you want your kid to be. But in reality, they might be somewhere else.
So it becomes really necessary to know how to use the tracking feature of Messenger properly. Because if you don’t know how it works, you can be easily fooled by your kid.
Whenever the location sent is genuine, it will always show the profile icon of the sender on the map. Also, on the location thumbnail, you can see the ‘Sender’s live location’ label. Whereas, if they have sent a wrong location then you will see a location balloon icon instead of a profile icon on the map.
Interesting isn’t it?
The difference seems to be small but really capable of detecting whether the live location sent is genuine or not.
When Will This Method Work?: It works when the other person is aware of you tracking their location and is willing to send you their location.
When Does It Not Work?: It won’t work if you want to track someone on Facebook without them knowing.
3. Using Stories
If any one of your Facebook friends has uploaded a story recently with the location tag then you can see their location. However, this method is not a 100% accurate way to see someone’s location on Facebook Messenger as people generally put a fake location on stories. Also, it does not tell the exact location of the person it just shows the city name and country.
To see someone’s location using Facebook, you can go to the stories section of the Facebook Messenger app by navigating to People > STORIES and then tap on the story with the location.
This way you can get an idea of someone’s location.
When Will This Method Work?: It will work when your friend has uploaded a story with the genuine location.
When Does It Not Work?: This won’t work if you want to find out their exact location.
4. Nearby Friends
Nearby Friends is a Facebook feature that is not available on Facebook Messenger. To use this feature you need to use the Facebook app. Also, it only works when both of you i.e. you and your friend whose location you want to track have enabled Nearby Friends on Facebook.
To enable Facebook’s Nearby Friends settings you need to log into your Facebook account and from there tap on the hamburger menu icon.
Next, go to See More > Nearby Friends.
Now tap on Get Started!
On the next screen, it will ask you to share with whom you want to share your location, only Friends or everyone. Choose the desired option and then tap on Next.
Now you will be able to see all the nearby friends on the map.
When Will This Method Work?: It works when you and your friend both have enabled the Nearby Friends option.
When Does Not Work?: It won’t work If you want to track someone on Facebook without being a friend.
Recommended Facebook Spying Tutorials for You:
- How To Spy On Facebook Messenger Calls Remotely
- How To View Secret Conversation History On Messenger
Wrapping Up
By knowing the exact location of your loved ones you can always reach for their help in time and Facebook is a good platform to keep track of your friends and family. However, sometimes they won’t provide you with the correct location due to privacy reasons, but it’s your job to take care of their security. Hence you can make use of tracking apps such as mSpy to know about their whereabouts.
