5 Best Employee GPS Tracking Apps: Tested and Compared

What Are Employee GPS Tracking Apps?

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When you're managing a mobile or remote team, knowing the location of each employee while they're supposed to be working is a must. GPS time tracking tools allow you to monitor your staff moving between clients and work sites. 

This software offers insight into your team's visibility and attendance by capturing their locations, so you don't have to be present in person.   

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A reliable employee location tracking app will help you:

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1. Ensure your employees show up on time for work 

2. Document your employees' clock-in and out times 

3. Optimize your dispatch process 

4. Prevent mileage theft 

5. Eliminate buddy punching. 

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With the right employee GPS tracking app, your business can reap all benefits while transforming manual, time-consuming tasks into automated workflows. We wrote about GPS tracking benefits and best practices, so feel free to check out our article.

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To stay compliant with relevant regulations regarding employee monitoring, please check out our articles on GPS tracking laws and creating a GPS tracking policy.

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What Are the Challenges When Picking the Best Employee GPS Tracking Apps?

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‍As a part of our work, we speak to business owners and decision-makers daily who are either looking at automating their timesheets or tracking their employees’ locations.

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The biggest obstacle you encounter when comparing the best employee GPS tracking apps is their abundance. In other words, you must spend hours reading about their features, benefits, and shortcomings until you decide on the right one for your business. 

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And that means only reading about them without having an opportunity to try them and see whether they work for you. 

That’s why we decided to do the legwork for you and test the apps.

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Despite the many GPS tracking systems, we will focus on five that stood out after reviewing and testing over 15 best GPS tracking tools.

• Timeero 
• QuickBooks Time (formerly TSheets)
• ClockShark
• Hubstaff
• VeriClock

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Besides testing, reviews include screenshots, user reviews, and feedback from hundreds of business owners.

What to Consider When Comparing Time & GPS Employee Tracking Apps

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There are many similarities and variations between various employee GPS tracking apps. So what do you need to look out for when comparing tracking service providers?

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These are some of the factors you should consider when comparing GPS location tracking apps:

• Quality of GPS tracking
• Price
• User Reviews
• Ease of Use
• Integration with your existing software
• Support

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All the app providers have now put up some measures to prevent battery drain. As this varies significantly from device to device, we find it too complex to address the issue as part of this review. To learn more about the matter, you can check out our piece Do GPS Apps Drain Mobile Battery?

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So, let’s cut to the chase and move to details you can hardly get in any other place - the comparative results of our testing of the best apps.

Testing the ‍Quality of GPS Tracking: On Foot and By Car

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‍When you hunt for the best field employee GPS tracking app, it’s very easy to get misled by wonderful demos that do not show real-world GPS tracking results. But things get tricky once you start testing the apps on your mobile phone and trying out the best GPS tracking practices.

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We decided to try all five GPS tracking solutions to offer you the best advice. We chose to do two kinds of tests - walking and driving- as both situations are crucial for businesses with field employees.

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Walking Test of the Best Employees GPS Tracking Apps

During our walking test, we clocked in on each of the five apps and took a 30-minute walk around the block with a great GPS satellite signal to see how many GPS points would be captured. The idea was to provide data you can expect to get on your field workers while using each of these apps.

As we had previous experience with each app, we expected the test to run smoothly, and single testing would be enough. But we were wrong. 

It took us several walks, as some apps - QuickBooks Time and Hubstaff- showed odd results. 

Here are the insights we discovered during the testing.‍

Timeero

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As you will notice, the Timeero app captured many GPS points during our walk, including  timestamps, data on speed, and accuracy.

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It’s worth mentioning that the frequency of GPS points captured by the Timeero apps can be adjusted for mileage and location tracking needs, which gives you complete control of the metrics it collects.

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QuickBooks Time (formerly TSheets)

During our testing, the QuickBooks Time Tracker app captured two points between the clock-in and clock-out.

Honestly, we were surprised with the testing results, so we had to repeat the test several times to ensure we got the results right.

This is the screenshot from the last test walk we took. 

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The results were not that different during the previous two 30-minute walks.

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So, after ensuring all settings were correct (battery restrictions turned off, location permissions always on, and company settings requiring location tracking), we contacted their support team to see what was causing such results.

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Not much has happened. 

However, QuickBooks Time had much better results during our driving test, which you will see below.

ClockShark

The ClockShark app showed 4 points - clock-in, two points during the walk, and clock-out points: 

This isn’t surprising as the ClockShark app only captures GPS log points every 15 minutes to an hour. However, during all testing walks, the results were consistent.

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Our walk was 30 minutes hence the results you are seeing. A lot can happen between 15 minutes to an hour, so if you are looking for more GPS logs, then ClockShark may not be the best GPS app for you. However, their solution can work for you if you want moderately general tracking.

Hubstaff

Hubstaff recorded our routes accurately, capturing many GPS points along the way. 

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With Hubstaff, we faced a different kind of problem - the routes we took just wouldn’t show on the admin dashboard.

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‍This screenshot shows the locations during one of the 30-minute walks on the admin dashboard. There are just two points, completely inconsistent with the logs in the app.

As this situation was a bit confusing, we’ve contacted their support team for an explanation. We got an email response a day after we submitted the ticket that our query was under review. 

And this is the information we received from the support team after the review.

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We honestly hope for better test results next time.

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VeriClock

The Vericlock app pretty well plotted the traveled points every time we tested it.

The tracking was consistent with the route we took:

The only drawback with Vericlock is that you cannot see the GPS points in the mobile app. You can only view this on the website version. You must log in to the web/desktop app to access the path-traveled information.

This won't be ideal if you want to access GPS locations on the go from your mobile device.
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Driving Test of Best GPS Employee Tracking Apps

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Driving test ran much smoother, with no big surprises or confusions we experienced during the walking test. Some apps, such as QuickBooks Time, have shown much better results when compared to previous tests.

Timeero

Timeero recorded our route accurately, showing that our course was 1.1 miles long.

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QuickBooks TIme

During our short ride, QuickBooks TIme captured a mileage of 0.8 miles. From the GPS points it recorded, we can see that the app made a few shortcuts, which may explain the difference in mileage with Timeero.

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ClockShark

As it’s not a mileage tracking app, ClockShark connected the dots between the clock in location and the location we’ve traveled to. This is the kind of result we expected.

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Hubstaff

Hubstaff captured our route decently, although it did take a few shortcuts along the way.

Vericlock

Vericlock was again in line with Timeero when capturing GPS locations, showing our exact route.

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‍Test Summary

Timeero and Vericlock have demonstrated their supremacy over the other tested apps in our walking and driving tests. The routes they captured were accurate and reliable each time we tested the app. However, Timeero has shown one significant advantage over Vericlock, as it allows you to track employee mileage and reimburse their expenses automatically.

The results of the QuickBooks Time walk test took us by surprise, as they were consistently unreliable. On the other hand, the results of the driving tests were pretty decent. 

Hubstaff captures locations reasonably well, both on foot and while driving. However, the data not showing up in the admin portal is confusing.

ClockShark did pretty well in our testing - results were consistent with what the app does, so there are no surprises. If you’re looking for a more general tracking app and don’t need more GPS points per hour  - ClockShark can do the work.

So, What Is the Most Accurate GPS Tracker App?

If you’re looking for accuracy and precision regarding your employees' locations, we recommend narrowing your choices to Timeero and Vericlock. 

Remember that out of these two, only Timeero comes with a mileage tracking feature, so if you want to cut down on your mileage costs or reimburse your employees for their mileage adequately - Timeero is your top choice.

Best  Employee GPS Tracking Apps: Brief Overview 

Now that we’ve shown you the results of our testing, it’s time to get to know each of the apps better.

Besides a detailed overview of GPS tracking features, we’ll briefly introduce their other key features, integrations, ease of use, and user reviews.

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As for the ease of use and user reviews, we consulted the G2 review site and checked out the Google Play Store and Apple App Store reviews sections. 

Timeero 

Timeero is one of the best employee GPS tracking apps. It’s built specifically for professionals who want deeper and more accurate insight into employee hours, locations, and mileage and to manage their mobile teams more effectively.

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GPS tracking features

• Background tracking. Once they check-in, it will track your employees’ routes in the background. Tracking stops after clocking out, which is great in terms of privacy.
• Real-time tracking. The Who’s working dashboard will show your employees' real-time locations, working hours, and jobs.
• Geofencing. The Timeero app uses geofencing for various purposes. For example, it can send clock in/out reminders and notifications when the employees punch in/out off-site. The app will also flag the employees’ time card entries if there is a geofence violation.
• Offline mode. Timeero app works offline. This is great for mobile workers in areas without a good internet signal.
• Timestamped locations. It captures location timestamps, so you will know when a location was captured.
• GPS frequency. It is based on movement (if one moves more than 150 feet) and also captures location every 5-10 minutes if it’s working properly.
• Breadcrumbing. Timeero supports breadcrumbing, meaning you’ll get a detailed report with every location your employees have been on the clock.
• Path Playback. This feature allows you to replay the routes traveled by your employees.
• Mileage tracking. Using mileage tracking makes it possible to easily and accurately calculate how many miles every employee traveled and reimburse them. The app recognizes driving speed and automatically tracks mileage when the employee is on the clock.
• GPS point accuracy and speed. Yes. Both metrics are captured, so you will know how fast a user travels and how accurate we think the GPS point is.

Other Key Features:

• GPS Time Clock
• Time and attendance tracking
• Suggested mileage
• Employee Scheduling
• Time Off Management
• Job management
• Kiosk app with Facial Recognition
• Customizable Reporting
• Mobile app for Android and iPhone

Integrations:

Timeero plays well with popular accounting software such as QuickBooks and Xero. It also integrates with popular payroll software such as ADP, Gusto, Paychex, Rippling, and Viventium.. With the Zapier integration, you can connect Timeero to over 5,000 apps and streamline your workflows.

Timeero also has Public API, allowing you to connect with other preferred apps.

Ease of Use and User Ratings:

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As you can see, according to the G2 review site, Timeero’s users praise it for its ease of use, giving it an excellent mark, far above the industry average. 

The same stands for the quality of customer support service and the ease of setup.

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Pricing: 

Timeero offers a 14-day free trial that will allow you to try out its different features and functionalities. It has straightforward pricing - cost per user per month, with no additional fees. There are three plans:

Basic plan: $4 per user per month

Pro Plan: $8 per user per month

Premium plan: $11 per user per month.  

Overall Pros & Cons:

Based on all the evidence from our testing, Timeero is the best employee GPS tracking app. It has all the relevant features that allow employees to manage remote and mobile workers, including mileage tracking, breadcrumbing, and accurate GPS location and speed.

Therefore, Timeero is the right solution for your business if you are looking for a GPS tracking app that will give you the deepest insight into location activity in real-time and retrospectively. 

QuickBooks Time

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QuickBooks Time is a generic yet robust employee time-tracking software built for businesses in different industries.

Besides capturing employees’ work hours, QuickBooks Time comes with GPS tracking, which makes it a solid contender in this category of apps. 

Although the company focuses primarily on timesheets, we think it’s a decent GPS tracking app. ‍

GPS tracking features

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• Background tracking. It will track your app in the background once you are clocked in. Tracking stops after clocking out, thus preventing potential privacy issues. 
• Real-time tracking. The Who’s Working feature show your employees' whereabouts, their working hours, and the job they’re currently on.
• Geofencing. The QuickBooks Time app uses geofencing to remind employees to clock in and out when they arrive at or leave the job site, which can be handy for those who forget to do so. 
• Offline mode. The QuickBooks Time app works offline, which is great for mobile workers since their cell phones may not always have a great internet connection signal.
• Timestamped locations. It captures location timestamps, so you will know when exactly a location was captured.
• GPS frequency. It is based on movement and captures location every 5-10 minutes if it works properly. 
• Breadcrumbing. QuickBooks Time is also capable of showing the breadcrumb trail path of every employee so that you can see whether they use the shortest routes. 
• Path Playback. With this feature, you can replay the routes traveled by your employee
• Mileage Tracking. QuickBooks Time does a fair job of tracking mileage, although, during our testing, the route it recorded has shown slight deviations from the course we’ve actually taken.
• GPS point accuracy and speed. Both metrics are captured, so you will know how fast a user travels and how accurate we think the GPS point is.

Other Key Features:

• Time clock app
• Employee Scheduling
• Time Off Management
• Project Monitoring
• Kiosk app with facial recognition
• Customizable Reporting
• Mobile App for iOS and Android

Integrations

QuickBooks Time also integrates with Quickbooks and Xero, another accounting software.

In addition to integrating popular apps, QuickBooks Time offers a supported integration to over 30 apps.

Some apps include Gusto, Square Point of Sale, Rippling, Expensify, RUN Powered by ADP, Square Payroll, OnPay, and Wagepoint.

Ease of Use and User Ratings:

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According to the Quick Books Time user ratings on G2, its users, and customers are satisfied with the ease of use, support quality, and setup.

Pricing:

QuickBooks Time offers two plans:

Premium, which starts with a $20 base fee + $8 per user per month, and 

Elite, which starts with a $40 base fee + $10 per user per month.  

There’s also a 14-day free trial to check how the app works. 

Overall Pros & Cons:

QuickBooks Time is among the top employee GPS tracking apps if you want location and time tracking altogether.

What QuickBooks Time lacks are frequent location updates and a bit more accurate mileage tracking. In addition, we noticed the app frequently crashes for various reasons from some relevant reviews and talking to actual users. Another issue is the GPS tracking unreliability.

The major downside is the pricing. As the QuickBooks Time entry package doesn’t include geofencing and mileage tracking, businesses looking for these features must choose the pricier  Elite plan. And with a $40 base fee + $10 per user per month, this doesn’t seem like the best option for small businesses or smaller teams.

If you want more details on QuickBooks Time, check out our Timeero vs. QuickBooks Side-by-Side Comparison.

ClockShark

ClockShark is an employee GPS tracking app. You can use it for time, location, and attendance tracking of your field crew.

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GPS tracking feature

• Background tracking. It will track your app in the background once you are clocked in. Tracking ceases after clocking out, thus protecting the user’s privacy.
• Real-time tracking. The Who’s Working Now feature shows your employees' whereabouts, their working hours, and the jobs they’re currently on.
• Geofencing. The Clockshark app uses geofencing to remind employees to clock in and clock out.
• Offline mode. Some parts of the Clockshark app work offline. For example, you can clock in and clock out, but you cannot check your timesheets without an internet connection.
• GPS frequency. It captures the location when an employee clocks in or out and every 15 minutes if it’s working correctly.
• Breadcrumbing. Clockshark supports breadcrumbing so that you can see the trail path of every employee and check the routes they use.
• Path Playback. It’s a handy addition, and with Clockshark, you can hit replay and watch the exact routes your employees take while at work. 
• Mileage tracking. Clockshark doesn’t provide a mileage tracking feature. 
• GPS point accuracy and speed. The app delivers great in this department as both metrics are captured, so you will know how fast a user travels and how accurate the GPS point is.

Other Key Features

• GPS Time Clock
• Employee Scheduling
• Time Off Management
• Kiosk app with Facial Recognition
• Customizable Reporting
• Invoicing and Billing
• Mobile App for iOS and Android

Integrations:

ClockShark also integrates with Quickbooks. In addition to integrating popular apps, ClockShark offers a supported integration to other apps, including ADP Workforce Now, RUN Powered by ADP, and more.

Ease of Use and User Ratings:

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The G2 review website scores show that ClockSharks’ users and customers value its ease of use and setup and the quality of their customer support, all scoring above the industry average.

Pricing:

Clockshark offers two different plans based on the number of users and features you need. 

The Standard plan starts at $7 per month per user +a $16 monthly base fee. 

The Pro plan is $9 per user per month + a $30  base fee.  

Overall Pros & Cons:

The Clockshark team has done a good job with their product, as it is a reliable GPS tracking app for those with moderate tracking needs. However, it doesn’t seem to capture enough GPS points based on our testing. And it lacks mileage tracking, which is a huge downside.

If you want more details on ClockShark, check out our Timeero vs. Clockshark Review, where we tested and compared both apps.

Hubstaff

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GPS Tracking Features

• Background tracking. It tracks your movement when you clock in, though we couldn’t precisely tell how the tracking process works.  
• Real-time tracking.  You can see your employees' location and the job they’re currently on.
• Geofencing. The Hubstaff app uses geofencing to remind employees to clock in and out. 
• Offline mode. Hubstaff app works offline, so you don’t have to worry about areas with poor signal coverage. 
• Timestamped locations. It captures location timestamps, so you will know when exactly a location was captured.
• GPS frequency. Hubstaff explains on their website that they use 500 meters resolution for location tracking and focus on bigger movements. However, it records the location of your remote workers in increments of ~150 meters when in motion.
• Breadcrumbing. Hubstaff supports breadcrumbing so that you can see the path of every employee and check the routes they use.
• Path Playback. Hubstaff allows you to replay the routes traveled by your employees.
• Mileage tracking. Unfortunately, the app leaves much to be desired regarding mileage tracking as it doesn’t support this functionality. 
• GPS point accuracy and speed. Hubstaff captures both of these metrics, thus providing you insight into how fast a user was traveling and how accurate we think the GPS point is.

Other key features:

• Scheduling
• Project management 
• Productivity monitoring
• Attendance tracking
• Mobile App for iOS and Android

Integrations:

Hubstaff also integrates with QuickBooks. It also integrates with many popular project management solutions, allowing admins to see exactly what their team members are working on and how much time they’ve spent on individual tasks.

In addition to integrating popular apps, Hubstaff offers a supported integration to over 30 apps. Some include the following: PayPal, FreshBooks, Freshdesk, Wrike, Breeze ChMS, Teamwork, and more.

Ease of Use and User Ratings:

Unlike other apps, Hubstaff’s G2 scores are slightly below the industry average in all three categories.

Pricing:

Hubstaff Field Pro starts at $10 per user per month for a minimum of 2 users, but you can also ask for a customized Enterprise plan that offers advanced features and more seats. 

There’s also a 14-day trial to see whether it fits your needs well. 

Overall Pros & Cons:

Hubstaff is a feature-rich app with many functionalities for monitoring your employees.

On the other hand, the user experience was very confusing - although the mobile app did log the near to accurate routes,  the fact that we could never see these GPS points in the web app was a bit worrying. 

VeriClock

VeriClock is a GPS time-tracking software and management tool. With VeriClock, employees can easily clock in and out from their mobile devices or desktop computers, and managers can track their employees' work hours and locations, assign shifts, and approve time-off requests. 

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‍GPS tracking features:

• Background tracking. Once you are clocked in, it will start tracking your location in the background.
• Geofencing. Vericlock app uses geofencing to remind employees to clock in and out when on-site, just like all the other tools on this list. 
• Offline mode. Vericlock app works offline, which is great for mobile workers since their cell phones may not always have a great internet connection signal.
• Timestamp locations. It captures location timestamps, so you will know when a particular location was captured.
• GPS frequency. It captures the location every 15 minutes if it’s working properly.
• Breadcrumbing. Vericlock also supports breadcrumbing so that you can see the trail path of every employee and check the routes they use.
• Path Playback. This app doesn’t feature the path playback functionality. 
• Mileage tracking. There’s no mileage tracking, either. If you want to automate this process, Vericlock isn’t among the best employee GPS tracking apps for your business needs.
• GPS point accuracy and speed. On the upside, Vericlock captures both of these metrics, thus providing you insight into how fast a user was traveling and how accurate we think the GPS point is.

Other key features:

• GPS Time Clock
• Real-time data of time worked by employees
• Scheduling
• Time off tracking
• Alerts for Overtime, No Show, User Error, or Job Costing
• Customizable reports 
• Photo verification

Integrations:

VeriClock has built-in bidirectional integrations with all QuickBooks desktop versions, QuickBooks Online, Sage 50 US, and Sage 50 Canada.

The integration with Vericlock is straightforward. When you sign into Vericlock, Integrations is one of the icons on the menu bar.

When you click on the Integrations tab, it takes you to a page where you can select one of the above-listed apps.

Ease of Use and User Ratings:

Unfortunately, there are not enough reviews on G2 to provide us with comparative ratings for ease of use, customer support, and ease of setup.

Although, some reviewers find that the app has a steep learning curve and that certain features could be a bit less complicated. 

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Amir Z. In the beginning it can be frustrating to understand how the program works. However, once you start working with it then you realize how easy and quick it is. Source: Capterra

Sanye E. restaurant owners don't have the time for 5 steps..I really tried to make vericlock work. we have 3 restaurants and different managers. I was able to get staff to use but managers had really difficult time accessing detailed and fast reports. Source: Capterra

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Pricing:

Vericlock offers a simple pricing plan - a $10 base monthly fee + $5 per user per month. 

A free trial is also available if you want to take the app for a test drive. 

Overall Pros & Cons:

Vericlock has a simple interface, which is a huge plus for not tech-savvy users. We were happy with the GPS tracking capabilities as it correctly recorded our path. The biggest drawback with Vericlock is that you cannot access your time cards or your path traveled in the mobile app. Instead, you have to log in to the web app.

So, Do You Have Enough Information to Pick the Best Employee GPS Tracking App?

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We hope this review will help you decide when comparing the best employee GPS tracking apps for your field service.

We included all the relevant features and aspects of each tool side by side so you can easily see how each one stacks up against the other four. 

In addition, there are some more useful resources on the website work that you can check if you want to learn about GPS trackers for specific industries: such as 5 Best GPS Trackers for Sales, 6 Best GPS and Mileage Tracking Apps for Realtors, 5 Best Time Clock Apps for Construction in 2023, Best GPS and Mileage Tracking Apps for Delivery Drivers or Best GPS Fleet Tracking Apps in 2023.