How to Find Someone’s Location Using Online Tools

Brandon Way - August 27, 2025

Nowadays, it’s easy to feel like we’re more connected than ever, thanks to social media. However, people are also constantly on the move and busy with their daily lives, so sometimes we can lose touch with people we love.

If you’re looking to reconnect with an old friend or family member you haven’t seen in a long time, there are a number of online tools available to help you search for someone’s location. We have a few tips on how to locate your loved ones, along with some of our favorite resources to help you find their location.

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How to Find Someone’s Location: Our Top Methods

Tracking down the location of a loved one can be difficult, especially if you do not share location through your phone or another app. Below, we give you some helpful methods to easily find someone’s location.

Online Address Lookup

If you have an old address of your friend or family member, you can use an address search tool like the one from CheckPeople.

Simply type in the first and last name of the person you’re looking for, along with the last city and state you know they were living in. This will search public records to find the person’s most recently recorded address. It can also help you to find other records about this person.

All the information on this site is drawn from publicly available records, including records of bankruptcy and criminal charges. Sites like CheckPeople save you the hassle of combing through dozens of different public records, bringing together all the information available about a person in one report. They can also help you narrow down your search if someone has changed address multiple times.

Even if all you have is an old phone number, you can use the site’s reverse phone lookup tool to see if the line is still active and who it is registered to now. If the number is still connected to the person you’re looking for, you can always try giving them a call or sending a text to reconnect.

If your friend or family member has an active social media page, you can also use that as a resource to find their current location. Sites like Facebook have profile information that is often publicly available or available to friends of the profile holder.

Many people have basic information on their profile, such as their birthday, relationship status, job title, and the city they live in. Sometimes, they will also location-tag posts or pictures, showing places that they have been to recently.

Even if the person doesn’t share location information on their social media posts, you can use the messenger features on the site to reach out to them.

If your friend doesn’t have an active profile on a site like Instagram or Facebook, you may still be able to use these sites to contact mutual friends or other family members. These mutual friends may be able to provide a current address or phone number for the person you are searching for.

Professional Networking Sites

Many people also use sites like LinkedIn for professional networking. You can reach out to people on these sites even if they aren’t using more traditional social media sites. You may be able to see who their current employer is, which can give you an idea of where the person is living and their general location.

We don’t recommend reaching out to someone’s employer to ask for contact information, as most companies have strict policies around protecting employee data.

If someone gives you unauthorized access to the information of employees, sometimes just by confirming employment status, it can result in serious issues for the employee. Requesting information this way may also raise suspicions that you might be trying to contact someone for unsavory reasons.

Most professional networking sites will have a way for you to contact the person you are searching for. You can add them to your network on the site and message them there if you already have an account. Or, you may be able to find their work email or phone number. If your other searches haven’t turned up anything, you can give this method a try.

Mutual Friends or Organizations

Sometimes you may have to go through a more personal route when trying to find someone’s location. Reaching out to other friends and family members that they also associated with is one way to reconnect.

In many families, someone will take charge of organizing family reunions or maintaining family trees. This person is usually the perfect resource to give you info about family members you may have lost contact with over the years.

For people you aren’t related to, you likely have other things in common. If you went to school together, for example, the alumni committee may be able to provide their contact information so you can learn their location. You could also attend the next reunion or alumni event in the hopes of meeting up with them or someone who is still in touch with them.

Even if your friend is not active on social media sites like Instagram or Facebook, they may still be present in online groups for their specific hobbies and clubs. You may be able to find them there participating in discussions or attending events; you can contact them and learn their location from here.

Keeping Someone’s Location in Mind

Sometimes, you will want to keep tabs on someone’s location so you can check up on them routinely. This is especially true if you want to maintain long-distance relationships, reconnect with old friends, and ensure your immediate family members and loved ones are safe.

You can use our recommended tips below to keep someone’s location in mind, with their permission and consent for certain location sharing methods.

Social media has gained so much popularity because of its ability to help us know what’s going on in our friends’ lives, even if we can’t see them every day. Sharing major milestones or just little daily happenings helps us feel connected to people all over the world.

If you and your friend have active social media accounts, be sure to follow each other. Enjoy liking and commenting on each other’s posts and stories regularly, in addition to keeping tabs on their location

Visit Each Other

As great as social media can be, nothing compares to a face-to-face visit. If you can arrange a short trip to see them or have them visit you, it can be a great way to reconnect and ensure you keep someone’s location in mind.

If the distance is too far for you to manage regularly, you can also use video conferencing to have game nights and attend important events in each other’s lives.

Location sharing is one of the easiest ways to always keep track of your loved ones. Many people do this for safety reasons, especially while traveling, but you can also do it to feel like you’re more involved in each other’s day-to-day life.

There are several ways of setting up real-time location sharing on your devices. Of course, some people may not be comfortable with this level of intimacy, especially if you haven’t been in contact for a long time.

Location sharing is something that must be mutually agreed on. You can install apps on each other’s phones or use the location sharing features built into apps like Google Maps.

Finding the Location of the Ones You Love

Nothing is more important than sharing your life with the people you love, and finding someone’s location is a big part of that in many cases. Thankfully, there are many ways you can find someone’s location these days. No matter what method you end up using, the important thing is the effort to keep your loved ones close and stay involved in their lives.