If you don’t want to empty your wallet on expensive GPS systems for car tracking, you’ll be happy to know that you can easily track your car with your smartphone for spending absolutely nothing. In this article we will tell you the best two ways through which you can track your vehicle.
Track Your Car with A Cheap Phone and Mapping App
Just buy a prepaid phone with a steady data plan. No need to spend a fortune on the phone. You can buy a cheap phone. If you don’t already have one, you can buy a cheap phone from Boost Mobile. You don’t need to spend any more than $30. I’d recommend a reasonable phone made by Motorola for this purpose.
You’d need a GPS app that’ll work as a tracker. People used to deploy the famous InstaMapper service to track their cars using smartphone, but since the closure of the service, there have been several apps in the market. I’d recommend using Family Locator app. If you want to try some other apps to track your vehicle from your smartphone, check out this list of famous apps. AccuTracking is another great tracking software for cars. But it costs around $6 per month.
First, enable internet access in your phone. Go to the settings and turn on the internet. Remember, the cheap phone you have isn’t a smartphone, so you will have to configure it manually to enable the internet.
You should also make sure that your phone is turned to mute. The ringer should be off and there should be no tones. You won’t be needing to alert the thieves.
Now, turn on your phone. If you are using Motorla i290, head over to “Java Apps” and open GPS tracker. If you are using some other phone, just look out for a GPS app. Now use the device id from the mapping app or software and tap “save”. Now your phone will ask your permission to start tracking. Allow it. Within seconds, the status will be set to “Tracking” from “Locating”
Here comes the trickiest part: tying your phone permanently with the car battery to enable 24/7 tracking. You’ll need to plug in the charger of your phone with the car battery so that your phone could get charged and track your car. I’d recommend asking a car expert or mechanic to do it. Otherwise, get your phone charger and connect it to your car’s wiring with 12V Accessory Outlet. For that, find the 12V circuit in your car that’s not always on.
Tracking Your Car Without any Hassle with a Small Gadget
If you find the above method too difficult or cumbersome, you could use TrackR, a small gadget that pairs up with your smartphone to track your car. TrackR could be attached to your car. You can attack it wherever you want, and track it with your GPS-enabled smartphone.
