Top Five Tracking Apps and Devices

By: COMMANDER ENTERPRISE
FROM THC ZINE #2

Smartphone based tracking today is so accurate and effective, it can accurately tell where lost, pubbed-out people are on a Friday / Saturday night, or where one left that other tablet or mobile device, among other things.

Forgetting and losing stuff ain’t cool, because it was paid with hard earned moolah, that’s why. As long as there’s a smartphone with a tracking app installed, it can track that lost or missing item pretty accurately.

Well, maybe as long as it’s not one’s main phone that’s actually missing. But even that can be tracked as long as another phone is within reach.

Xora Streetsmart app

This tracking app recently gained some unwarranted online notoriety when worker Myrna Arias filed a lawsuit against her company for using this (employee) tracking and monitoring app on her, 24/7. It tracks current activity, location, work log-in, breaks, the duration of the breaks, general productivity, vehicle mileage, work schedule, work details, mapping, fulfillment of job details, job time recording, and all other small, fun details involved with remote employees.

While it is a useful tool for maintaining productivity and monitoring employees to always get in line, it can also be used as a remote and real time “hand on the neck” on the employee, as we see from with this angry lawsuit.

When used properly, Xora provides reliable tracking and monitoring – not really for the actual device (it’s always on the employee, OK). It’s more for using the phone effectively to show what’s currently going on with the employee and more importantly where – as long as it is for working and office hours, ONLY.

Apple’s Find My iPhone app

This popular app gained even more popularity late last year through a feature on The Verge, when the owner lost his phone in a bar in New York City. Using the accurate and real time location tracking and signal noise feature (he signed on his brother’s phone to do it, though) they found the “thief” just across the street from the bar.

This success story has a few conditions that made it work brilliantly – by using it as soon as possible, using it properly, and never giving up. It is also of special mention that a having a phone nearby for use is another important factor to finding it faster, and that might be a limitation. But in the era of ubiquitous phones, it can be considered an exception.

Tile

Here’s a cool and compact tracker in the form of a thin, small, and tag-able rounded square, and has pretty much the same features as the next one on our list, Trackr, except for auto tracking the smartphone that has the app. Tag it on to any important item, and leave it. Tracking it through the app will indicate how near it is. It also sends out a signal noise when finding the lost item on the smartphone.

The app has a couple of unique features: one that allows anyone to borrow a phone to log-in and search anytime, and one that allows tile-sharing between trusted people or families. The tracker is also on a Cloud network, and can be activated for missing items. If it’s under the radar of other tile trackers, it will alert them about the missing item. Cool, huh?

TrackR

This highly praised small round (about the size of coin) tracking device is currently hot and going the rounds. People can stick this round miniature device on their important stuff and do away with worries when things just go on vacation on us. Purses, wallets, bags, smartphones, keys, scooters, grandpa, a beloved pet (it is also safe for pets), or one’s spastic out of control 3 year old even. Just stick it, and leave it. If it’s lost, it can track the item for up to 100 feet.

It will also show where the item was last seen just in case there are other tracker coins in the vicinity. It can also alert the Trackr network in case the thing goes missing, offering great support. So there’s always a great chance it’s not lost forever. And best of all, if the smartphone is the one missing, just press on the tracker coin itself, and the phone will automatically bleep out a signal noise even when it’s on silent mode. So gnarly.

Spyera

AKA the total tracking, spying, monitoring, and surveillance smartphone app. Really. The only way it would work is if it has been installed on the phone. It can either be another person’s phone for tracking and spying, or as an app on one’s own phone in case it gets stolen or compromised.

For unsuspecting thieves, buyers of stolen phones, or people just needed to be on surveillance, this app is a nightmare. Among (scary) features that offer the most control and surveillance include listening to calls, listening to current location sounds, recording everything, access to emails, multimedia, photos, instant messaging, messages, passwords, remote controlling, and making changes, among other secret features that run in the background, while the person using it has absolutely no clue.