OwnTracks

Owntracks

About this app

OwnTracks allows you to keep track of your own location. You can build your private location diary or share it with your family and friends. OwnTracks is open-source and uses open protocols for communication so you can be sure your data stays secure and private.

For more information see our documentation (http://owntracks.org/booklet)

Ratings and reviews

A decent OSS tracking app. I wish the client app had a bit more parity in features compared to the iOS app, but one has to understand that an app developed by volunteers has limitations.

The app stops reporting to Owntracks (MQTT) server after a few days. When it works, it's great but unfortunately it's too unreliable. When it stops, the waypoints are cached, however you must routinely "force shutdown" the app and reopen it. Afterwards it will work again for a few more days before failing again. The developers are not interested in fixing the issue or putting in place a workaround. So frustrating.

I've been using this for my family for a while now. It works great. Devs are very helpful and responsive via github. There are some nuances to how the reporting actually happens, and it's all clearly described in the documentation. Some reviewers complain that the location is wrong, but it's just how the Android significant changes API works. These people need to read the documentation!! It's all configurable, and you can push updates out to clients which is great.