If your business relies on field employees or a mobile workforce, it's essential to know their whereabouts at all times. Tracking and monitoring your employees has several benefits, including safety, payment for time spent on a specific project, and redeployment of employees to areas where their input is needed most.
A dedicated tracking app with GPS tracking, time tracking, and mileage tracking features is essential for efficiently managing your field employees. You can choose from a variety of employee tracking apps in the market.
So, which app is the best for field employee GPS tracking?
We tested and compared the market’s top GPS location tracking apps and narrowed it down to five of the best apps to help you make the right choice for your business.
Let’s look at each one of them in detail.
Looking to track and monitor field employee time and location on a single platform?
The best field employee tracking app can help you get started.
Your field team is always on the go. So, having the right tools, such as tracking apps guided by employee GPS best practices, is essential to do the job effectively. Here is the highlight of the best field employee tracking apps in the market.
Timeero - Best Field Employee Tracking App With Geofencing and Mileage Tracking
QuickBooks Time - GPS Tracking App for Seamless QuickBooks Integration
Hubstaff - Basic Employee Tracking Tool For Remote Employees
Timesheet Mobile - Time Tracking Solution With COVID-19 Employee Screening Tools
AllGeo - Real-Time Employee Tracking App With Smart Workflows
What to Look for in an App to Track Employees
Employee location tracking apps offer a range of functionalities beyond the mere placement of dots on a map. The best GPS employee tracking apps combine location tracking capabilities with critical business functions such as automated time tracking, mileage tracking, scheduling, and communication.
Here are some key features to consider when looking for the best employee GPS app to track employees.
Real-Time and GPS Location Tracking
Finding the actual location of field employees can be a headache for most businesses. A reliable field employee tracking app should have a GPS location tracking feature that can help field agents find the best possible route to their destination, and managers track exactly where their employees are and what they are working on. Managers can also use the mapping and geolocation features to assist when field agents need things like a re-route or change of assignment.
Geofencing Capabilities
Geofencing works hand-in-hand with GPS tracking, further improving employee tracking and monitoring. For example, with geofencing capabilities, employers can create a virtual boundary around a specific location where employees can clock in or out.
Employers can use the geofencing feature to send clock-in and out reminders to employees when they enter or leave the area. Some of the best GPS time tracking apps will allow employers to restrict employees from punching in or out offsite, safeguarding their company against employee time theft.
Mileage Tracking
If your field staff needs to travel to job sites or client offices, mileage tracking is an essential feature to consider. This feature allows employers to keep track of employees’ business travels and expenses to allow for fair mileage reimbursement and tax deduction computation.
5 Field Employee Tracking Apps
When looking for the best field employee tracking app, you will encounter plenty of tracking apps that do not directly address field agents’ and business needs regarding accurate GPS tracking. Therefore, we decided to do the hard work and try all five field-tracking apps on our list, and here is a comprehensive review of what each one has to offer.
Timeero - Best Field Employee Tracking App With Geofencing and Mileage Tracking
On top of our list is the Timero mobile app for both iOS and Android, which checks most of our boxes for tracking field agents’ activities, including time spent with every customer, locations visited, and mileage covered.
GPS Location Tracking and Geofencing
One of the most important aspects to track for your field staff is where they have been and at what time.
Timeero’s real-time GPS tracking feature provides accurate time and location of your field employee after they clock in and out. In addition, the app monitors and captures specific areas toured during work hours, giving you a clear picture of your employee’s workday.
Timeero - Best Employee Tracking App with Geofencing and Mileage Tracking
On the “Who’s Working” board, you can see who is working, including a detailed map with pins on the exact location where the employee clocked in or out. Zoom in to get as many details as possible, including time spent on a particular location, the route taken, and how many places the agent visited. The route replay feature recreates the agent’s journey from when they clocked in. You can click on the breadcrumbs to see where the field employee was at a specific time of the day.
Setting the geofenced location is easy with Timeero
Timeero’s geofencing feature goes hand-in-hand with GPS tracking to provide more clarity into the employees’ daily activities. Managers can set geofenced areas around the designated job locations and get notifications once the employee clocks in or out of the site. In addition, employers can set reminders to ensure employees do not forget to punch in when they get to the job site. This feature ensures no punches are missed, and employees do not lie about their time clock card and claim payment for tasks not done.
Mileage Tracking
Timeero offers a dedicated mileage-tracking feature for all field and remote employees. Field employees often spend most of their hours moving from one place to another. A reliable mileage tracker is needed to track mileage or accurate reimbursement and IRS tax computation.
Timeero keeps track of employee mileage
Timeero’s mileage tracker records mileage automatically as long as you’re clocked in. The best part is that the trackers work offline, meaning field agents won’t have to worry about tracking mileage even when they visit areas with poor internet coverage.
Timeero offers integration with other platforms, including QuickBooks Desktop, QuickBooks Online, Xero Australia, Gusto, Rippling, RUN powered by ADP®, ADP Workforce Now, Viventium, and Paychex.
Timeero Pricing
Plans start at $4 per user per month. You can access the free 14-day trial to get started.
QuickBooks Time - GPS Tracking App for Seamless QuickBooks Integration
Field employees working at different job sites can use QuickBooks Time (formerly known as TSheets mobile app) to maintain more accurate timesheets.
While it’s mostly known for its advanced scheduling features, QuickBooks Time offers reliable time management and tracking for field employees, including detailed employee activity regardless of location.
QuickBooks TIme Dashboard
GPS Location Tracking and Geofencing
While QuickBook’s time and location tracking feature is not as detailed as Timeero’s, it offers real-time insights into who’s working on what and where. For example, the GPS location feature allows the manager to see who is closest to a specific job site so that they can assign them appropriate tasks. You can also zoom in on the map to see where every employee was and how long they spent in a specific location.
We discovered that QuickBooks offers a route replay feature but doesn’t show the key details of a field employee’s exact route. For example, it lacks breadcrumbs on the route replay to show the agent’s journey and the exact vehicle’s speed. Instead, you only get straight lines to the places visited.
QuickBooks also offer geofencing capabilities with a “clock in now” feature. This feature allows employees to clock in outside the geofenced area accompanied by a note explaining why they clocked in offsite. However, this feature thwarts the geofence purpose, which requires the employees to clock in and out of the geofenced area to prevent them from lying about their time card and getting false payment claims for work not done.
Mileage Tracking
QuickBooks offers field workers a time and GPS tracker to track mileage for tax deductions and reimbursements. However, from our test, we discovered that the QuickBooks time tracker took a while to start, and you might experience some gaps where the app doesn’t track miles.
Timeero’s time and mileage tracker covers up for this with a built-in motion detection technology which starts tracking mileage when the vehicle exceeds a certain speed threshold (typically 4.5 mph). Hence, the app doesn’t track mileage when the employee is stuck in traffic.
QuickBooks Time Pricing
The plans start at a $20 monthly base fee + $8/mo per user for the Premium plan and a $40 monthly base fee + $10 /mo per user for the Elite plan.
Hubstaff - Basic Employee Tracking App For Remote Employees
Hubstaff offers basic employee tracking functionalities to companies with remote employees. This allows them to track hours spent at every client site.
Hubstaff Map Desktop View
GPS Location Tracking and Geofencing
Hubstaff allows employers to see their team’s current location on a live map and estimate arrival time in a remote setting. It also automates how employees clock in and out easily using the GPS location functionalities.
Hubstaff also shows the routes the employee took. Still, unfortunately, it doesn’t provide breadcrumbs to see every detail of the route taken during work hours.
With Hubstaff mobile app, employers can use GPS tracking and geofencing to create a geofenced area where time tracking is triggered by the team’s location. This feature guarantees the accuracy of the timesheets, as no employee can charge for work not performed.
Mileage Tracking
Hubstaff allows field and remote teams to clock in automatically in their respective job area. That said, we discovered that Hubstaff mobile app doesn’t have a mileage tracker. This might not be good news for companies with a mobile workforce and need to track mileage for accurate reimbursement and tax deductions computation.
Hubstaff Pricing
Price starts at $10 per user per month for the Hubstaff Field Pro plan. They also have a free 14-day trial.
Timesheet Mobile - Time Tracking Solution With COVID-19 Employee Screening Tools
Timesheet Mobile is more of a time-tracking software with geo-fencing capabilities and other additional scheduling and messaging features. It allows field team members to connect via mobile in different locations. In addition, managers can use the GPS functionality to track and monitor workforce and team flow.
TimeSheet Mobile Desktop View
GPS Location Tracking and Geofencing
Timesheet Mobile focuses on geofence time tracking rather than GPS location tracking. This means that employers can set a geofence around all the worksites and have the workers or contractors punch in and out and monitor them during the shift. Managers can get notifications once workers leave the site while punched in.
Some workers often forget to punch out when they leave the job site. The geofencing feature ensures this does not happen with a Punch Prompt technology that reminds employees to punch in or out. This further prevents timesheet errors during payroll integration and compilation. Unfortunately, we discovered that Timesheet Mobile doesn’t provide route replay and breadcrumbs to see the field’s employee journey during clocking in and out.
That said, the app offers Covid-19 employee screening functionality which is optional for all subscription plans. When turned on, the employee must answer the default and custom screening questions to clock into a shift. Failing the self-screening process means they cannot punch in, and an alert will be sent to their manager to notify them.
Mileage Tracking
Regarding mileage tracking, we discovered that Timesheet Mobile lacks a dedicated time tracker to track mileage for field workers for the free plan. Instead, you have to subscribe to the more premium plans such as per punch, small, and medium business plans to track mileage and time traveled.
This is where Timeero excels with an accurate mileage tracking feature. It helps you optimize routes for all field and remote workers to help calculate travel expenses and compute tax deductions, no matter the plan you choose.
Timesheet Mobile shows the best route mileage for possible travel punches. It also includes a fixed threshold value to flag excessive travel times.
Timesheet Mobile Pricing
Timesheet offers four plans:
The basic plan at $3.49 per employee for unlimited punches + a $14.99 company subscription
Per punch plan at 15 cents per punch + a $29.99 company subscription
The small business plan at $9.95 per employee for unlimited punches + a $29.99 company subscription
The medium business plan at $2.49 per employee for unlimited users + a $149 company subscription
AllGeo - Reliable Real-Time Employee Tracking App With Smart Workflows
Formerly known as MyGeo Tracking, AllGeo tracking app offers real-time location tracking capabilities to determine how much time a field worker spends with clients. Like Timeero, AllGeo allows you to create geofenced locations for clients and assign every client to respective field workers.
AllGeo Geofencing
GPS Location Tracking and Geofencing
With AllGeo, managers can create geofenced areas for clients and field employees. The app will automatically clock in employees upon arrival and clock them out upon departure. It will also send real-time clock-in and out alerts from geofenced areas. The zero-touch approach relieves field employees of constantly punching in and out during every client visit.
On the “monitor” tab, you can see where the field worker has been during the day. The map isn’t as clear as Timeero’s, but you get an idea of the time spent by a field agent with the assigned clients. AllGeo also allows you to track field employees using a link sent via a text message.
Once the field worker opens the link, AllGeo automatically captures their time and location. But this can only be successful if the field employee remembers to open the text message.
Mileage Tracking
AllGeo automatically tracks mileage during the employee working hours (from 9 AM to 5 PM), whether they start the shift or not. Employers can adjust the working hours to suit every field employee’s schedule.
Automated mileage tracking can pose a challenge in differentiating between personal and business mileage. You can set distinct clock stages for home and work to prevent this.
Unfortunately, we discovered that AllGeo doesn’t have a route planner to help determine the shortest route to the respective client’s destination.
AllGeo Pricing
The plans start from $5 per user per month.
Select The Best Field Employee Tracking App
Accurate time and location tracking are important for any business that has a mobile workforce. Employers get to know the whereabouts of their employees and can easily reassign people when work demands immediate changes.
Employee GPS tracking apps make it easier to accurately track the precise location of each field worker and the time spent working on assigned jobs. Timeero offers the best of both worlds. It allows you to see who’s working on a single map, where they’re working, and support geofences around work sites. Try out the Timeero 14-day trial to get started.
Get real-time updates on your field employees’ whereabouts and activities with our reliable tracking app.
David is a content writer passionate about all things SaaS and technology! With over seven years of experience, David knows how to craft content that captivates his readers and effectively communicates their value and offerings. When he is not writing, he is at home reading, out playing soccer, or exploring new places.
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