How It Works
Tricker Tracker is a unique, completely free, tracking utility for your smart phone
or PDA. It's the software that makes your existing hardware smart. You simply register
on the site and install the software on your smart phone. The software
will simply upload your coordinates in real-time to the website. The information
is kept completely secure and private and anyone with your login can then see where you have been. You also have the option of sharing your coordinates using a public link. It's that simple.
Read On for More Details...
What You Need
Getting Started
Frequently Asked Questions
What you Need
You need a smart phone running Windows 2003 or Windows CE/6.0/6.1. You need a data plan
from your cellular provider. The smart phone should
have built-in GPS or Bluetooth. If you use Bluetooth, you will also need an external Bluetooth
GPS antenna which are commercially available in many GPS stores including ours. Visit
our
store to see some examples.
Getting Started
Your first step should be to
register on our site. Registration is important since
this will create your account name and password. If you should ever forget your
password, you can reset it by email so make sure to provide your correct email address
and an easy to remember security question. Tricker Tracker will never send spam
to your email account.
Next,
download the Tricker Tracker application by going to our site using your Windows
smartphone or PDA. Our applications are currently offered as CAB files so they should
install on your device as soon as you click on the "Download Now" link. You can also use Active Sync to install the application.
Next, if you are
using a Bluetooth GPS device, you will need to pair the devices using your phone's
Bluetooth utility. This is located under
Settings under the Connections tab. Make sure Bluetooth is turned on and the devices
are paired. Also, WM6 has a COM ports tab that must be set to the COM port that
the Bluetooth device uses. Finally, make sure the
Mode tab has Bluetooth enabled. WM6 also has an External GPS icon which you can
click on and configure if you have multiple applications using GPS at the same time
(like the Tricker Tracker application and mapping software).
Start the application on your device. The application will install on the Tricker
Tracker folder under Program Files and it will put a shortcut on your Programs folder
or directly in the Start folder. If you are using Bluetooth, select the scan option
to detect the COM port. If it does not find it, you
may need to change this value to find the proper COM
port. If your phone has built-in GPS, simply select this
option. Put your website username and password. The Output screen should show your
coordinates and the Diagnose screen should show a count down which tells you it
will soon send coordinates. The Tricker Tracker application will
start sending your coordinates to the server once the countdown reaches zero.
Remember that the coordinates can only be viewed by using your username and password
on the site. Do not share this account information with anyone unless you want them
to track you!
Frequently Asked Questions
Why use Tricker Tracker instead of those other paid services? Paid
services for GPS tracking can charge as much as $30 per month or more per tracking
point. Our service is very efficient in terms of what we offer and how we run it.
Still,
Tricker Tracker works and we think you will be satisfied. Give us a try before wasting
your money on monthly charges or expensive GPS tracking units.
Why do I need to install software on my smart phone? TTracker, the
application
you install on the smart phone is needed so the phone will know how to gather and
send the coordinates and where to send them to. The application will not affect
your phone's current functionality and the application can be easily uninstalled.
The application has no ads, spyware, or malware.
How large is the TTracker application? The installer that is downloaded
from the website is under 870KB. Once installed, the application will take up about
that much space.
I received a security warning during installation. Is the application safe?
TTracker will safely run on your device. Depending on the security level
on your phone you may get different types of warnings during installation. If you have difficulties
installing the application or your provider requires a security certificate, please
contact our support team and mention the name of your provider and the city/country
where they provide service to you. We may be able to add your provider's certificate
to the installer. We are constantly improving our application and adding compatibility
to different wireless providers.
Can I send the coordinates to another location? No. The software
will only send the coordinates to the Tricker Tracker site. However, you can download
your coordinates to your PC whenever you like so you can view them in other programs
such as Google Earth.
Google Earth doesn't accept the downloaded coordinates. What's wrong?
The downloaded coordinates file is a comma-delimited CSV file. The free version
of Google Earth doesn't import comma-delimited CSV files. However there are programs
that convert these files to KML, which Google Earth does read. Go to
csv2kml
for a free conversion utility.
Can I post my map to the public? Yes you can. Tricker Tracker now
allows your map to be viewable to anyone. After activating your account, simply
enable the Public Map view under Your Map. When enabled, you will receive a web
address which you can share with anyone. This link will show your location without
your friends having to create an account or log in. You can enable or disable Public
Maps any time. If you later decide to disable Public Maps, the link will no longer
show your coordinates.
How often are the coordinates sent? Coordinates are currently sent
every 2 minutes.
Can the application be used to spy on my spouse/girlfriend/boyfriend etc. without
him or her knowing? We get asked this question a lot. Although the
application was not designed with stealth capabilites, it can be minimized after
it is started (this is generally done by pressing the end button). This will allow
the application to run in the background and for the smartphone to continue working
as usual. Note that Tricker Tracker does not encourage marital spying. However,
we are not in the marriage counseling business. Also note that certain states may
have laws against tracking others without their knowledge.
How much data is transferred from the phone to the server? The
information sent is very small (typcially under 1KB) and consumes very little bandwidth.
Also, the values are sent only every 2 minutes. Regardless of that, an unlimited
data rate program from your cellular provider is recommended.
Can I use my mapping software (such as TeleNav or Google Maps) and the tracking
application at the same time? If you are using a built-in GPS, then
the answer is Yes. If you use external/bluetooth GPS, the application can still
coexist with mapping software, but you have to use a Bluetooth utility to set the
applications to use different COM ports.
Won't using my cell phone's built-in GPS drain the battery more quickly?
Not with our application runnig. TTracker for devices with
built-in GPS includes a Power Save mode. This mode sends coordinates less often
and turns the GPS device on and off automatically to conserve battery. Note that
if you also open a mapping application at the same time (such as TeleNav), the other
application may keep the internal GPS device on and will prevent this feature from
working.
What if I go out of cellular range? The application will buffer
the coordinates until you return to cellular coverage range.
The speed shown appears to be lower than my actual speed? Download
the latest version of TTracker to correct this problem.
What if I can't see the coordinates on the website? Make sure you
have put in the username and password correctly on your device and make sure you
have cellular coverage with data access. Also after registering, your account needs
to be confirmed by following the instructions sent via email. The application shows
Coordinates Sent and Coordinates Buffered, either of which will increase every two
minutes. If Coordinates Buffered is increasing, your device does not have data connectivity.
If Coordinates Sent is increasing, then coordinates have been sent to the server.
Allow at least 2 sets of coordinates to be sent before they appear on the website.
If at that point they do not show up on the site, check that the username and password
entered in the application under Setup matches the credentials you use to log into the website and make sure not to use any spaces.
How is the information stored/used on the server? The information
is stored on a back-end database and it is accessible only by using your username
and password or by enabling Public Maps. By default, Public Maps are disbled and
in this mode, your coordinates are not accessible by anyone
else without your account information. We currently do not share the information
with any 3rd party but we reserve the right to use the information for targeted
advertising. We will never distribute the tracking information with any personally
identifiable information attached to it. Also, Tricker Tracker currently limits the amount of data stored
per user.
The application is not working. What can I do? The application
has been thoroughly tested. However, there are many different smartphones and GPS
devices and we may have not tested your phone yet. If you have any problems
send an email to
support@trickertracker.com
with a description of the problem, your phone type, and Windows version.
What if I don't want to be tracked anymore? We would hate to see
you go. Remember that there is no tracking/uploading of data while the application
is turned off or when you press the GPS OFF button. But our application can be easily uninstalled through your phone's uninstall
utility. You can also send an email to the
webmaster to have your account terminated - you must include your username
and password for confirmation.