The usual doubt about whether it is possible to know the location of another user on WhatsApp generates a lot of misinformation, and sometimes hoaxes circulate about methods to know the geographical position of a person without their permission.
WhatsApp does not have a very high level of security or privacy, however, the location of users is protected , and you can only know when they share it voluntarily from the chat window.
The possibility of spying on WhatsApp, in addition to being illegal, is not technically possible. Vulnerabilities in the application can end up in the hands of very high-level security agencies or hackers, but are fixed if they are made public.
Therefore, there is no way to know the location without permission through WhatsApp, it is something that the platform has perfectly controlled. In the past it suffered from bugs that made it possible to know the locations, and they were fixed in a short time through an update.
In fact, the geographical position is not even among the information that WhatsApp provides to the FBI, although it is not encrypted data either, so other agencies surely have access.
Hoax: netstat -an does not indicate the location in WhatsApp
Some sources indicate that it is possible to know the location of another user from a Windows computer. Both the user who spies and the one being spied on must use WhatsApp Web, since it supposedly records the IP address of the recipient of the messages.
By opening the Windows Command Prompt (“cmd” command), it is supposedly possible to know the other’s IP address, that is, the number assigned by the Internet operator to connect.
It would be obtained using the netstat -an command , and then the IP address could be located in the normal way, with a standard tool to know its location.
The reality is that the method to obtain the location with netstat -an does not work , because WhatsApp Web does not establish direct connections with the other users, but rather they go through the central servers. That is, we will not be able to know the IP of the others, and without it we will not be able to know their approximate geographical position.
Beware of WhatsApp malware
Yes, there are systems to know the location of a person in WhatsApp, but they are not based on vulnerabilities, so they require deceiving the other with some trick . Something that is not ethical or legal, and let’s remember that actions such as spying on the couple’s WhatsApp can have severe punishments.
One possibility is to send some kind of spy application to the phone if it is an Android mobile, although it will not be easy to convince the other person to install it.
We could also send a link to a website designed to capture your IP and tell us your location, which has a better chance of success, but is still unethical, and bordering on legal, if you don’t pass it on directly.
Not to mention that these types of apps and websites to spy on WhatsApp usually have high prices and are unreliable, even a scam . There is a considerable risk that we will be cheated, so our advice is to avoid these types of services.
Fixed and temporary WhatsApp locations
Of course, in WhatsApp they can voluntarily send us a location , either with the integrated system or through Google Maps. In addition, they can send us the location in real time by WhatsApp, for 15 minutes, 1 hour or 8 hours.
This is the legal and standard system, which we must trust. The rest are only going to cause us problems of various kinds, since knowing the position of another person in a simple way thanks to an alleged failure of the application is not viable.
In short, you cannot know someone’s location on WhatsApp directly , it is a protected detail, and the developers will correct any bug that gives access. Alternative systems are divided between those that do not work and those that pose significant risks and should be avoided.
