DIY Vehicle Tracker

مراقبة GPS لسيارتك

Use an otherwise unused phone to make a GPS tracker for your car! Install the tracker app and leave it somewhere hidden in your vehicle, then you can check it's position whenever you want.

What you'll need:

1. Another Android phone with working mobile net

2. This app and the companion app (https://www.google.com/url?q=https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=hu.advancedweb.diyvt.tracker) installed and configured

3. There is no step 3

Features:

- You can place a map widget that is refreshed every now and then, so you can easily see if your car isn't where it's supposed to be

- You can refresh the position on demand

- You can do a realtime refresh to make the phones update the location every few seconds. This would come handy if you car is moving

- A battery icon that indicates the power level so you'll know if you need to charge

Glossary:

- Tracker ID: This is the identifier that connects your two phones. As long as both of your phones are configured with the same Tracker ID, they will be paired.

- Tracker phone: The one you'll leave inside your car

- Main phone: Your day-to-day phone which you carry with you

How to get it working:

- Install this app to your main phone

- Install the companion app to your tracker phone: https://www.google.com/url?q=https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=hu.advancedweb.diyvt.tracker

- On your tracker phone, generate a new Tracker ID, then use the menu to send it to your main phone

- Open the link on your main phone

- You're all set! You should see the map with your position

Caveats (some limitations you should know about):

- The tracker phone needs access to the internet and the GPS. This means you need to have a SIM card with configured mobile net. As the app has very low bandwidth requirements, any mobile net will do.

- The app uses push notifications to handle on-demand location updates. If they are not going through, you should check it with a tester app, like: https://www.google.com/url?q=https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.firstrowria.pushnotificationtester

- There is absolutely no warranty, although we do our best to keep the server up, there can be accidental downtimes.

Permanent Tracker ID:

The Tracker ID you generate expires in 24 hours, after that you need to generate a new one or make your tracker permanent. Payment contributions help with the server and development costs, and to make sure everything is working correctly.

Privacy:

Although the tracker phone sends it's location to a remote server, it does so encrypted, so that it is not readable to anybody but you. The encryption key is the second part of the Tracker ID, and it is only sent when you pair your two phones, so it doesn't touch the server.

Also this app is not for secretly spying on people. There is a sticky notification that informs the user that the tracker is running.