How Can I Track My Car With My Phone?

Can’t find the car you parked in the theatre’s parking lot?

Your car could be three vehicles away or straight three rows away from where you thought it was.

Or wait what if it has been stolen?

You never know, possibly it’s already stripped down for the parts.

And in case it is parked somewhere on the road, what is the chance of it not getting towed?

Now thinking what to do?

We all have, at some point or other, experienced the need of an app, system or an object that could track the location the vehicle.

Why not educate ourselves and be prepared for the next tracking hoopla?

So, let’s find out possible tricks and techniques to use your smartphone as a tracking device.

Read on –

1. GPS Tracker

Global positioning system (GPS) trackers are portable devices that give you a real-time check on the location and speed of your vehicle.

Advanced trackers give you detailed car statistics (like points at which brakes were used harshly or if the oil you use is not compatible with the vehicle).

The technology (same as the one used in your in-car navigators) used in GPS tracking system is trilateration.

Two things that create the main difference between various trackers available in the market are the installation procedure and the power source.

Some devices plug directly into the onboard diagnostics (OBD-II) connector that is usually located in the driver’s legroom, some into cigarette lighters or accessory sockets while some are powered by a battery, which prove to be extremely portable.

Using a GPS tracker is extremely easy. You simply have to turn on the tracker and sync it with your account on the device manufacturer’s website.

Now you can monitor the device’s live whereabouts through the internet or mobile app.

The five best GPS tracker devices are –

1. Spy Tec STI GL300 Mini Portable Real-Time GPS Tracker

2. MOTOsafety OBD Vehicle Monitoring System

3. AMERICALOC Mini Portable GPS Tracker

4. MasTrack OBD Real Time GPS Vehicle Tracker

5. Optimus Real Time GPS Tracker

2. An Off the Wall Set-up

You can turn an android phone into a GPS tracker.

You might have a pre-used mobile in your house to devote to this.

If not, you can invest peanuts to buy a cheap model.

To make this DIY GPS tracker, you need to follow the following four steps-

i. Buy a sim card and a data plan for the old mobile.

ii. Log into Google with your already existing account or create a new account

iii. Go into settings and make sure that the device administrator is Find My Device.

iv. Ask an electrician to fit this mobile into your vehicle so as to ensure that it never gets discharged.

Check that the internet and GPS are turned on in it.

Download Google Find My Device in your personal smartphone.

Continue in it with the same account that you added in the android-turned-tracker and Voila!

Now you have access to live location tracking of your vehicle.

Find My Device will display the name of the model of the android phone you have used as a tracker.

3. The Apps that Could Help

You have apps for almost everything.

There’s got to be one for this purpose too.

Well, there are multiple apps to rely upon when it comes to vehicle tracking.

Few of the most popular ones include –

1) Find My Car – GPS navigation

This navigator app offered by DS software is unco accurate and doesn’t require internet access.

However, its specificity narrows down to the situation in which you’ve parked your car in large parking lots or unfamiliar areas.

It cannot find the car in case it is stolen.

2) Numadic – Fleet Tracking App

As the name suggests, this one is specific to fleet tracking.

It helps you get a real-time view of where your trucks are, what they’re doing, and an estimated time when their destination.

Numadic also provides daily, weekly and monthly statistics and fleet performance report.

You can quickly optimize your operations and get more jobs done in lesser time with this app.

Another useful app in this genre is MyCarTracks.

3) Matrix Internet Tracking

This product of MiX Telematics is a convenient solution to track all your vehicles on a single map and acknowledge their current status.

It also gives a brief analysis of the latest speed and positioning, and start and end points of trips.

4) Vylio

This app is a no cost, no contract IoT platform that provides real-time vehicle tracking and a 7-day history report in up to 5 devices on one account.

You need a supportive IoT or tracking device to be placed in the vehicle.

It supports a range of personal, portable, asset, vehicle, fleet, and mobile app devices.

There are no restrictions on the usage, and no limitation of time frames apply to the service being free.