Published 11 Sep 2023

10 Best Employee GPS Tracking Apps in 2023

employee using gps tracking

What is an Employee GPS Tracking App? 

An employee GPS tracking app is a convenient digital tool that organizations can use to keep track of mobile employees’ real-time locations as they travel and/or work alone or in isolation. Deploying a tracking app can increase employee efficiency and safety while enabling organizations to better manage, monitor, and report on employee activities.

Must-Have GPS Tracking Features

When choosing the best GPS employee tracking app for your organization, make sure to look out for these top features and functionalities.

Employee-Activated (Employee-Enabled) Tracking

 Personal privacy is a fundamental human right, and organizations should be careful not to overstep any legal or ethical boundaries. The best employee GPS tracking apps are employee-activated (or employee-enabled). This means that employees control when tracking is turned on (i.e., when their morning shift begins or when they leave the office to carry out a client visit) and when it is turned off (i.e., when the shift ends or they arrive back at the office). 

Tracking employees only when they are actively working – and giving them the power to control their own data – helps employees feel more comfortable being tracked.

Emergency Panic Alarm

The ability to send emergency assistance to an employee’s exact location is arguably the best use case for employee tracking. Make sure to choose a tracking system that doubles as a lone worker safety solution. At the very least, it should include an emergency panic alarm so employees can call for help when they need it, no matter where they are.

Portable Use

What use is a GPS system that is hard-wired into a vehicle once the employee parks and leaves the vehicle? Employees must be able to bring the GPS system with them, on their person. This is only possible through mobile smartphone location tracking apps and handheld satellite devices.

Remote Location Tracking

Tracking systems that rely on cell towers/mobile phone coverage will not work in cellular “dead zones.” If your employees work in rural areas, the solution you choose should not be smartphone-only; you need a solution like SHEQSY that offers integrated handheld satellite lone worker devices, such as Garmin inReach® Mini and SPOT Gen4.

Time Tracking

From keeping employees on-task to understanding job costing, time tracking is a useful feature to look out for. Many systems, such as SHEQSY, will begin GPS location tracking at the beginning of a shift or an activity. If the system offers payroll integration as well, time tracking can assist your accounting department in paying hourly employees and contractors.

Mileage Tracking

The best employee GPS tracking apps come with advanced reporting capabilities, recording important data such as miles traveled between job sites, along a courier route, or from appointment to appointment – just to name a few examples. Mileage tracking is another important element in job costing.

SafetyCulture staff writer

Maddy Cornelius

Maddy is a content contributor for SafetyCulture. She has worked as a digital marketer and copywriter in the risk management industry for more than a decade. When she’s not writing for SafetyCulture, Maddy runs a popular travel and food blog and enjoys snowboarding, practicing yoga, hiking, and spending time exploring outdoors.

Maddy is a content contributor for SafetyCulture. She has worked as a digital marketer and copywriter in the risk management industry for more than a decade. When she’s not writing for SafetyCulture, Maddy runs a popular travel and food blog and enjoys snowboarding, practicing yoga, hiking, and spending time exploring outdoors.