GPS Tracking Apps for Employees: 6 Top Picks

Have you ever wished that you could see where your employees are? Twenty years ago, you’d have to purchase an expensive GPS tracking device. Today, all your employees already have a GPS tracking tool in their pocket—you just need the right GPS tracking app.

With the power of a GPS tracking app for employees, you can:

• Accurately track employee hours and time on site
• Optimize employee routes and improve delivery efficiency
• Dispatch employees faster and more effectively
• Locate employees quickly in an emergency

GPS tracking apps improve employee efficiency, safety, and accountability. But every industry’s needs are different. Which GPS tracking app is best for your business?

How Does a GPS Tracking App Work?

A GPS tracking app is a mobile application that taps into a smart device’s built-in GPS tracking technology. GPS tracking apps can be installed on smartphones, tablets, and other smart devices. 

Today, GPS tracking apps can be just as accurate as any other GPS-powered device. By leveraging the existing technology within an employee’s phone, you can track them for just cents a day—rather than investing in expensive hardware.

The Benefits of GPS Tracking for Employers and Employees

GPS tracking apps have benefits for both employers and employees. 

For employers, GPS tracking apps provide reliable, real-time reporting of employee whereabouts—making dispatching, scheduling, and project management easier. 

For employees, GPS tracking reduces the amount of paperwork that must be managed and submitted. From the start of the day to the finish, time is automatically tracked per site and per project.

Let’s take a look at some of the best GPS tracking apps for employees in all industries.

1. Workyard: The Best GPS Tracking App for Employees in Construction & Field Services

Workyard is a GPS tracking app and all-in-one workforce management tool, designed to help construction and field services companies manage crews, projects, tasks, and schedules. In the Workyard platform, you can track employee schedules, hours, overtime, and mileage. Workyard’s dashboard even lets you check on where employees are in real-time to improve efficiency and deployment.

Workyard is the ideal GPS tracking app for construction companies that want to improve their communication, efficiency, and reporting. Not only is Workyard built for the construction industry, but it’s designed to be simple and easy to use. Never chase down your employees for their paper time cards again.

How Workyard Works

Workyard’s GPS tracking feature uses the geolocation capabilities of smartphones to track the location of your employees. Employees clock in at the beginning of the day by signing into the app—from then on, they are tracked whether they’re traveling or on-site. Workyard’s administrative panel will display the location of employees on a map in real-time, so you can see where your crew is and what they’re doing. 

Why Workyard Is Great for Construction

Workyard was designed for construction companies with the understanding that most construction company owners and managers don’t want to spend all their time scheduling and tracking their employees. Workyard provides performance and efficiency in a single package and comes ready to use.

Features:

• Real-Time GPS Tracking: See the location of your employees at any time. Run reports regarding where employees spent their work hours, identify employees approaching overtime, and see which projects are taking the longest.
• Mileage Tracking: As employees travel, track their routes and mileage. Optimize travel between sites, reimburse fuel costs, deploy employees more effectively, and produce reports for client reimbursement. 
• Scheduling: Easily schedule employees within a consolidated system. Don’t just know where your employees are—make sure they know where they should be. 

2. Homebase: The Best GPS Tracking App for Retail

Your employees are working remotely. But how do you keep track of their hours? It’s not always about micro-management; frequently, you have to attribute those hours to billable clients. Homebase can help you keep track of your remote employees by tracking their location and activity in real-time. Manage work schedules, run payroll, and communicate with your team.

How Homebase Works

Homebase is more than just a GPS tracking app—it’s a complete HR administration and payroll management system for retail businesses. Once employees have been onboarded, they can be tracked remotely and in the field through the platform’s GPS-enabled solution. 

Why Homebase Is Great for Retail 

Homebase includes an array of features perfect for remote, hourly work. Employees can view their schedule, start working, log their hours, request time off, and access their pay stubs with a single consolidated app. While Homebase makes things easier for employers who want to track their employees, it also eases the time-tracking and administrative burden on the employees themselves.

Features:

• Workforce Management: View the work schedule, assign shifts, and manage time-off requests from one central platform. 
• Accurate Hourly Tracking: Track the schedule for hourly employees, print out timesheets, and run payroll.
• Onboarding: Manage job posts and applicants through Homebase’s all-in-one workforce management system.

3. Hellotracks: The Best GPS Tracking App for Logistics & Distribution

If you have employees who work in logistics and distribution and are out in the field, you need a GPS tracking app that can track their location and activity in real-time. Hellotracks is an all-in-one solution that includes GPS tracking, job dispatch, time clocks, and more. 

As a bonus, employees don’t need to use another app to track progress—they can upload files, photos, and client signatures within the app. This app is ideal for both employees and contractors working under a service-based organization.

How Hellotracks Works

Hellotracks is an all-in-one GPS tracking and workforce management solution. The platform includes a GPS tracking feature that allows you to track the location of your field employees in real-time. The software also includes job dispatch so you can assign work to your employees based on their location. 

Why Hellotracks Is Great for Logistics & Distribution

Hellotracks was designed for logistics and distribution. You can track the location of your field employees in real-time, view reports about their work status, and dispatch them effectively based on their location. Employees have the tools to report back on their jobs—and you can assess productivity through a suite of reporting and analytics tools.

Features:

• Job Dispatch: Assign work to your employees based on their location, making dispatch faster and more efficient.
• Time Clock: Let employees clock in and out of shifts, tracking the hours that they work and the time they spend on each job. 
• Reporting and Analytics: Generate reports on employee productivity, job costing, and more. Provide employees with a consolidated system for reporting.

4. Onfleet: The Best GPS Tracking App for Delivery Drivers

If you have employees who work in delivery, you need a GPS tracking app that can track their location and activity in real-time. Onfleet is an all-in-one solution that includes GPS tracking, turn-by-turn navigation, and proof of delivery. This GPS tracking app doesn’t just tell you where your employees are but also optimizes the routes that your delivery drivers take.

How Onfleet Works

Onfleet is an all-in-one GPS tracking and delivery management solution. With Onfleet, you can track a large number of delivery personnel and field employees in real-time. Dispatch employees based on their location, assign work as you go, and make sure that work is completed on time. 

Why Onfleet Is Great for Delivery Drivers

Onfleet was designed specifically for delivery drivers—employees who are frequently deployed to a queue of sites throughout the day. With Onfleet, GPS doesn’t just provide tracking and reports, but it also creates optimized travel routes for more efficient delivery. 

Features:

• GPS Tracking: Track the location of your delivery drivers in real-time. Make sure delivery drivers are meeting their metrics.
• Turn-by-Turn Navigation: Get turn-by-turn directions for your delivery drivers. Increase delivery driver safety while optimizing their routes.
• Proof of Delivery: Capture signatures and photos as proof of delivery for customers. Increase customer satisfaction.

5. Twib: The Best GPS Tracking App for Sales Representatives

Are you sending sales representatives out for your business? Then you probably need Twib. Twib is a GPS tracking app that tracks the location and activity of sales representatives in real-time. 

An all-in-one solution, Twib includes GPS tracking, lead capture, and sales force automation within a single platform. This GPS tracking app doesn’t just tell you where your employees are but also provides valuable insights into their sales activities. 

How Twib Works

Twib is an all-in-one GPS tracking and workforce management solution. The Twib platform includes a GPS tracking feature that lets you track the location of your field employees in real-time. But more importantly for sales, it lets you track employee performance. 

Why Twib Is Great for Sales Representatives

Twib is intended for companies that want to grow sales by optimizing their sales teams’ travels. To that end, it includes both GPS tracking features and functions directly related to sales reporting. You can see where your employees are and whether they’ve sealed the deal.

Features:

• Documentation: Report visits and check-ins through GPS with details such as date, time, and address.
• Productivity Reporting: Manage and track sales reporting and attendance per employee.
• Record Keeping: Keep records of business expenses such as travel-related expenses.

6. OK Alone: The Best GPS Tracking App for Employee Safety

Maybe you’re more concerned about safety than you are about scheduling. While most GPS tracking apps focus on hour tracking and on-site time, OK Alone includes safety and monitoring features. OK Alone is particularly helpful if you have field employees who need to frequently travel on their own. 

How OK Alone Works

OK Alone is a GPS-powered employee check-in system with safety and monitoring alerts. In OK Alone, you can check your dashboard to make sure that your employees are where they should be—and that they’ve verified they’re safe. If an incident does occur, employees can log the incident within the app for review later.

Why OK Alone Is the Best for Employee Safety

OK Alone is one of the few GPS tracking apps with features specifically designed around keeping employees safe. If you’re mostly concerned about employees who are working in remote locations—frequently alone—OK Alone provides the features that you need to react swiftly to potential threats.

Features:

• Emergency Processes: Define and enforce emergency protocols for employees working alone.
• Safety Dashboard: Centralize alert management and send alerts if employees don’t check in.
• Incident Tracking: Log incidents and reports and manage employee safety in real-time.

FAQs

How Can I Track an Employee’s Location?

The best way to track an employee’s location is to use a GPS tracking app. There are many GPS tracking apps on the market, so it’s important to choose one that fits your specific needs. 

Can You Track an Employee’s Phone?

Not only can you track an employee’s phone, but this is the easiest method of GPS tracking today. With an employee’s permission, you can use an app to actively track the employee’s position in real-time.

How Do You Keep Track of What Employees Are Working On?

The best way to keep track of employee work is to use a GPS tracking app with built-in project and task management. By logging into the app, you can see everything that your employees are working on and where they currently are.

Workyard Provides the Best Tracking for Construction Companies

Workyard is a GPS tracking app built from the ground up for construction companies. With Workyard, your construction company can:

• Track employees through advanced, GPS-powered geofencing technology—whether they’re on the road or on-site.
• Accurately record and report employee hours, both for internal tracking and customer billing.
• Create reports for mileage, travel, and overtime expenses.

Want to learn more? Download a free trial of Workyard to discover how a GPS tracking app for employees can help you.