Traditional time-tracking tools are not enough to meet the demands of managing a mobile workforce. In an era when companies depend more and more on field employees to spend substantial hours on the job, you must figure out how to keep an eye on your team.
It’s not just about keeping accurate time records — streamlining processes, gaining insights into how work is progressing, and ensuring the right people are in the right places is paramount.
An employee GPS tracking app that works is essential, regardless of whether your company employs field workers who must navigate different locations or you manage a team dispersed across multiple projects.
We’ve compiled a list of the five best GPS tracker apps for Android to help you find the ideal solution for your business. These tools bridge the gap between the office and the field, creating a sense of accountability.
Timeero lets you manage and track your employees' time, location, and mileage
What Makes the Best GPS Tracking Apps for Android?
GPS-tracking Android apps have become vital assets for companies looking to keep an eye on and maximize their workforce, especially when workers are on the go.
These field employee tracking apps go beyond conventional time tracking; they improve scheduling effectiveness and give you real-time location insights for your workers. Though there are location-tracking apps for iOS devices, you may prefer Android apps based on your business needs.
Here are the top five options to consider:
Timeero – Best All-In-One GPS Tracking Software
ClockShark – Effective Project Management and Tracking
Jibble – Ideal for Tracking Smaller Teams
QuickBooks Time – Seamless Time Tracking and Scheduling
Hubstaff – Best for Workforce Management
GPS tracker apps replace tedious and time-consuming manual methods of tracking employee locations with precise and automated GPS tracking. The key features of the app determine how effective it is.
Time tracking features on these employee tracking apps simplify payroll processes, guarantee equitable remuneration, and provide a comprehensive view of labor costs. You can access precise records of your employee’s working hours, breaks, and overtime.
Every company owner wants to increase overall productivity, help speed up dispatching, and respond to emergencies promptly. This is made possible by real-time tracking functionalities.
Another crucial feature in a GPS tracking app that encourages accountability is geofencing. It deals with the challenge of monitoring employee presence at specific locations.
Top 5 GPS Tracker Apps for Android
Choosing one GPS tracker app for your business can be daunting, given the numerous options available. Without further ado, let’s examine the top five best GPS tracker apps for Android to help you make this important decision.
Timeero – Best All-In-One GPS Tracking Software
When it comes to GPS tracking, Timeero stands out as one of the best apps for businesses. It is especially beneficial for service-oriented businesses like field sales, delivery services, and construction.
Timeero’s intuitive user interface makes it easy for administrators and staff to use the app. It reduces the learning curve and facilitates regular use. Some of the software’s primary features are as follows.
Real-Time GPS Tracking
Picture this: You are in charge of a group working on various client sites across the city as a project manager. Although they’ve left the office, you may be unsure whether they’ve reached their designated stations.
Real-time location tracking transforms uncertainty into clarity. You can instantly see each team member’s current location once they clock in, ensuring they are where they need to be.
Employees can clock in on their Android apps.
Timeero is specifically tailored to streamline workflow and boost employee accountability by tracking hours and showing employee locations in real-time. You can also see their location history through route replay.
The Who’s Working dashboard instantly lets you know who’s working where based on the phone location. This makes it super easy for managers to distribute jobs and quickly find available workers on the fly.
You can view your employees’ locations in real-time.
Employees may express concern about their privacy, but inform them that their locations are tracked only when they are clocked in. This will prevent employee pushback regarding GPS tracking.
Creating an employee GPS tracking policy is the best way to implement GPS tracking without violating your workers’ rights or running the risk of legal action.
Segmented Tracking
Timeero’s Segmented Tracking is a smart and unique solution for hassle-free GPS tracking. Instead of dealing with the headache of clocking in and out at each client location, employees can now simply clock in at the start of the day, and Timeero takes care of the rest.
As the employee moves between different sites, Timeero automatically tracks the distance traveled and records GPS data using Google Maps. This eliminates the need for multiple clock-ins and ensures accurate logging without manual effort.
Each segment has information such as the places they visited and how long they stayed there. It’s a time-saving, efficient solution that streamlines the entire tracking process, making it easy for both employees and employers. Even though using this advanced feature costs extra, it is well worth the money.
Segmented Tracking on Timeero.
Geofencing
Geofencing goes hand in hand with GPS tracking, making it a crucial feature. It allows you to set an invisible perimeter around a particular location - for example, a job site and control the actions that can or will be performed at that location.
For instance, if you own a construction company with multiple job sites, you can set geofences around these workstations. You can then assign tasks to employees in these locations.
Employees can clock in and begin logging hours when they arrive at the assigned work site. However, if they are not within the geofence, Timeero can block them from clocking in as they are outside the set boundaries.
This reduces the amount of time and resources you spend trying to authenticate that employees are in the right place.
Time Tracking
Timeero makes time tracking easy and efficient. All that’s required is adding staff members by inviting them via email and requesting that they download the app to their Android smartphones from Google Play.
To clock in, employees must choose an assigned task. They can also switch between jobs to make sure they get paid the appropriate rates for each one. Managers can also be granted admin access, enabling them to create schedules and assign jobs.
Management options on the Timeero app.
Employers can get all the timekeeping-related information for compliance purposes, such as overtime and breaks. If monitoring breaks has been a headache, a tool like Timeero’s California Breaks Tracker can help.
Mileage Tracking
In Timeero, your employees’ mileage tracking starts as soon as they clock in and ends when they clock out. The mileage tracker app is motion-based, meaning that if an employee moves above a certain speed threshold, it counts as driving.
Timeero tracks employees’ business miles and paths accurately.
Particularly relevant for businesses with employees constantly on the road, mileage tracking ensures accurate reimbursement and assists in managing travel-related expenses effectively.
The suggested mileage feature on Timeero displays the shortest route and can also help you cut costs.
Timeero suggests the shortest route.
Facial Recognition
Employees can use their Android phones to clock in and out, and the user-friendly app verifies their identity through facial recognition.
Facial recognition adds an extra layer of security, ensuring that time entries are associated with the correct individual. This feature is especially beneficial for remote teams or environments with shared devices.
Offline Capabilities
When on the job, your staff members might not always have access to the internet. It is crucial that the app continues to gather data and syncs it whenever the internet connection is restored.
Timeero is one of those mobile phone tracking apps designed to operate offline, gathering and storing GPS (Global Positioning System) location and time data on the target device. It becomes available in the cloud once the employee is back online. With or without an internet connection, you can still track distance traveled, time, location, and more.
Reporting
Timeero offers a wide range of reporting capabilities. Employers can keep accurate records of hours worked, overtime compensation, and other pertinent data. Each person’s clock-in time, hours worked, location, and other details are visible.
An employee timesheet on Timeero.
There are various methods for generating reports: by job, user or group, data range, totals, or mileage. A report on breaks and scheduled versus worked hours is also available. Furthermore, after the software generates the report, you can export it as a PDF or CSV file.
Other Features:
Alerts and notifications
Message blasts
Automated time cards and attendance tracking
Employee scheduling
Time off requests and approval
Integrations with the top payroll and accounting software
Pricing:
Timeero offers the following pricing plans:
Basic: $4 per user/month
Pro: $8 per user/month
Premium: $11 per user /month
Enterprise customized plan
ClockShark – Effective Project Management and Tracking
ClockShark’s GPS tracking feature can track employee location and hours in real-time. Every fifteen to twenty minutes, while an employee is on the clock, it gathers GPS data from their mobile device. It will be necessary for staff members to have the appropriate Location Permission settings.
Users can easily clock in on the app.
You’ll be able to view this data from the Timesheets tab. This information includes the employee’s task, the precise time, and the recorded location. The Who’s Working Now dashboard is another way to determine where employees are.
ClockShark’s GPSTrak feature lets you get more precise information about where your employees have been all day. If they drove from one work site to another, you’ll see locations visited with a timestamp. The app, however, does not have a dedicated mileage tracking feature.
You need to enable the GPSTrak feature from your settings.
Employers can set up geofences around work sites, and the app will notify workers to clock in and out when they enter and exit the virtual boundaries. Admins will receive an email notification if workers clock in outside the assigned work site so they can review and amend time entries as needed.
Because of this feature, ClockShark is great for field service and construction companies to ensure their employees are where they need to be at the right time.
Managers can easily monitor tasks assigned to staff members with ClockShark’s job management feature. With just a few clicks, creating jobs is simple and quick. You can assign tasks and add job locations when you create a job.
By establishing the total number of hours budgeted for the task, you can track labor budgets, limit employee access, and activate GPSFence. Managers receive email notifications when staff members approach the allocated budget, allowing them to monitor project progress.
Check out our ClockShark review for more information about this app.
Other Features:
Time tracking
Customer management
Job management
Clock-out questions
Employee scheduling and time off
Reporting
Integrations with top accounting and payroll software
Pricing:
ClockShark offers two pricing plans:
Standard: $40 per month + $8 per user
Pro: $60 per month + $10 per user
Jibble – Ideal for Tracking Smaller Teams
Jibble’s attendance tracker automatically uses GPS to track the location of your employees when they clock in. The software allows you to see your employees’ whereabouts and current tasks with just the click of a button.
Employees can start breaks or switch activities when clocked in.
If your employees are out on the field and cannot access an internet connection like Wi-Fi, the mobile app uses modern technology to monitor their locations. When the connection is restored, the data is synced automatically. You can then monitor team performance using this synced data, whether in the office or on the road.
With Jibble, you can see the routes that everyone has taken to get to where they are or were using the location tracker. The app updates your team’s location information throughout the workday, regardless of whether they are geographically dispersed.
It also has a geofencing feature that helps you ensure your team members are where they need to be. By assigning them to particular locations, team members can be restricted from clocking in outside designated areas. The app sends alerts and reminders that pop up, like text messages, to ensure your employees clock in on time.
Adding work site locations allows you to set up geofences on Jibble.
You can delve down to the required details with Jibble’s advanced reports. The software allows you to create subgroups by activity, project, date, member, or client. You can then utilize graphical reports or exports to gain deeper insights.
Other Features:
Project time tracker
Timesheets
Integrations with other software
Overtime tracker
Online kiosk
Face recognition attendance
Employee vacation tracker
Pricing:
Jibble offers a free plan for an unlimited number of users. Other plans include:
Premium: $3.99 user/month
Ultimate: $7.99 user/month
Enterprise: Customized for companies with more than 500 employees.
QuickBooks Time – Seamless Time Tracking and Scheduling
The QuickBooks Workforce app, formerly QuickBooks Time, is another solution on our list of the best Android apps for employee GPS tracking.
Its GPS tracking capability helps teams foster accountability. Management always knows employees’ whereabouts using the mobile device’s location during working hours. Additionally, it helps increase efficiency by displaying the employee closest to a certain site in case of an emergency.
The QuickBooks Workforce app has a simple clock-in feature.
Quickbooks Time’s automatic mileage tracking makes travel expense reimbursement easier by letting you know how far employees drive during their shifts.
People can also quickly designate shifts with its team scheduling feature. You can quickly create, assign, and manage numerous schedules and tasks in just a few minutes.
Administrators can easily duplicate productive work schedules by adding or removing users from previous schedules. Using a “Who’s Working” window, managers can monitor which employees are working and determine who is available for tasks.
You can share schedule updates with your team.
Any changes to the schedule can be communicated to teams through push notifications, SMS messages, and customized emails.
QuickBooks Time Projects can also generate reports for individual jobs, tasks, and employees. Businesses receive unmatched, insightful information from this to use for decision-making. You can read our QuickBooks Time review to help you decide whether this solution fits your business.
Other Features:
Alerts and notifications
Project tracking
Integrations
Geofencing
Mileage tracking
Automated payroll and invoicing
Timesheets
Time-off
Pricing:
QuickBooks Time offers two pricing plans:
Elite: $40 per month + $10 per user
Premium: $20 per month + $8 per user per
Hubstaff – Best for Workforce Management
Hubstaff enables businesses to monitor teams while they’re on the go through its GPS location tracking feature once they clock in.
The Hubstaff time clock.
Admins can monitor attendance at all times, see the routes taken by each employee, and pinpoint the exact location of every employee on a live map view.
Employees should install the app on their cell phones and enable permissions for location tracking to make this possible. With geofenced perimeters surrounding work sites, employees are automatically clocked in when they arrive and out when they leave.
This ensures accurate payroll and does away with manipulating hours or overbilling, which is common in manual tracking systems.
The Work Orders feature in Hubstaff is an excellent method of ensuring that teams’ efforts are coordinated with the overall goal. It allows you to assign specific jobs and tasks to individuals and teams.
The Hubstaff Work Orders feature
Using this feature is easy by assigning workers to particular tasks, tracking the time spent on each task, and getting real-time updates. This enables you to monitor the status of the project efficiently. Learn more about this software from our comprehensive Hubstaff review.
Other Features:
Timesheets
Reporting
Time tracking
Geofencing
Payroll tracking
Fleet tracking
Shift management
Shift reminders and alerts
Integrations with software
Pricing:
You can access Hubstaff for free as one user only. It offers the following pricing plans:
Starter: $7/user per month
Grow: $9/user per month
Team: $12/user per month
Enterprise: $25/user per month
Choose the Best Tracking App for Android
Geared toward mobile workforces, the best GPS tracker apps for Android devices allow businesses to monitor the location of their field employees at any given moment. They provide instant visibility into the current whereabouts of your workforce.
While each app we’ve covered has useful features, Timeero is the best go-to option. It sets a new standard for precision and simplicity in employee tracking. Read this in-depth Timeero review to learn more about this solution and how it can be a game-changer for your business.
Since all the apps offer a free trial, take advantage of this and try a few. When testing the app, be sure to evaluate its user-friendliness and how good the customer support is. You can also follow GPS tracking best practices to guarantee success.
FAQ
Can I Use an Android Phone as a GPS Tracker?
Android smartphones can be effectively used as GPS tracking devices by installing various apps from the Google Play Store. They are available for both personal and business use. One example is a family locator app to track family members and loved ones through location sharing or parental control apps. Business reasons involve fleet or workforce monitoring through the GPS phone tracker app.
Timeero Tracks Your Employees’ Time, Location, and Mileage
Emily Maina is a tech-savvy writer with a passion for creating content. With years of experience in the industry, she is well-versed in the latest trends and developments in the tech industry. When she’s not working, Emily enjoys exploring the great outdoors or watching her favorite shows.
%202.svg)
