Tracking devices are legal in some situations and illegal in others, and whether GPS trackers, AirTags, or phone-based location tools cross the line comes down to two questions: do you own the property being tracked, and if not, did the owner clearly consent? Track your own car or your own minor child, and you are almost certainly within your rights. Slip a tracker onto someone else’s vehicle, bag, or body without permission, and you are likely committing a crime in your state, regardless of your relationship to the person.
At least 26 states and the District of Columbia have enacted statutes that specifically address private use of location tracking devices, and more are added each year. Federal law fills in only pieces of the picture, leaving states to do most of the work.
The Two Rules That Decide Every Case
Ownership comes first. If your name is on the title of a vehicle or you bought the device being tracked, the law treats monitoring its location as monitoring your own property.
Consent comes second. If you do not own the property, the person who does must give knowing, voluntary permission before you attach a tracker. Consent that is pressured, hidden in fine print, or assumed from silence may not hold up. When both ownership and consent are missing, tracking almost always violates privacy laws, stalking statutes, or both.
When Tracking Is Legal
A Vehicle You Own
If your name is the sole name on a car’s title and registration, you can install a GPS tracker on it. People do this for theft recovery or to keep tabs on the car when a family member borrows it. Because you are monitoring your own property, the other driver’s consent is not legally required. This is the cleanest scenario and the one least likely to produce legal problems.
Your Minor Children
Parents and legal guardians can track their minor children. The authority flows from the legal responsibility to keep a child safe, and courts have consistently recognized it. GPS-enabled phones, smartwatches, and dedicated tracking devices are all permissible tools for parents monitoring anyone under 18.
Federal law reinforces this in a specific safety context. Kevin and Avonte’s Law, enacted in 2018, funds programs that use locative technology to find individuals with autism, dementia, and other conditions who wander from safe environments.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. United States Code Title 34 Section 12623 – Standards and Best Practices for Use of Non-Invasive and Non-Permanent Tracking Devices The law directs grant funding to law enforcement and public safety agencies to implement these technologies.2Grants.gov. BJA FY 21 The Kevin and Avonte Program – Reducing Injury and Death of Missing Individuals with Dementia and Developmental Disabilities
Company Vehicles and Equipment
Employers can install GPS trackers on company-owned vehicles and equipment for legitimate business purposes like route optimization, fleet management, and asset protection. No federal law specifically requires notifying workers that company vehicles are being tracked, but a handful of states require written notice before electronic monitoring begins. A written tracking policy that employees sign is a practical safeguard.
The employer’s authority stops at company property. An employer cannot place a tracker on an employee’s personal vehicle, and monitoring a worker’s personal phone location requires explicit consent.
Adults Under Guardianship
When a court appoints a legal guardian or conservator for an adult with dementia, a developmental disability, or another incapacitating condition, that authority can support the use of GPS tracking to prevent wandering. Kevin and Avonte’s Law funds exactly this kind of tracking for individuals with dementia and developmental disabilities.2Grants.gov. BJA FY 21 The Kevin and Avonte Program – Reducing Injury and Death of Missing Individuals with Dementia and Developmental Disabilities
A formal guardianship or conservatorship must be in place. A concerned family member who has not been appointed guardian cannot unilaterally decide to track an adult relative, even one with cognitive decline. If you are caring for someone who wanders, guardianship through probate court is the step that creates the legal authority to use tracking technology.
When Tracking Is Illegal
Someone Else’s Vehicle
Placing a tracker on a car you do not own and do not have permission to track is illegal. It does not matter whether the owner is a friend, an ex-partner, or a neighbor. Depending on the state, the act itself can constitute stalking, harassment, or a standalone tracking offense. Your relationship to the vehicle’s owner does not create an exception.
A Spouse or Any Other Adult
Tracking any adult without their knowledge and consent is illegal in every practical sense. Slipping a device into someone’s bag, attaching a tracker to their car, or using a phone app to monitor their location without permission can result in criminal charges for stalking or harassment. This applies to spouses, dating partners, roommates, and anyone else. Prosecutors increasingly treat this conduct as a serious offense rather than a domestic nuisance.
AirTags and Other Bluetooth Trackers
Small Bluetooth trackers like Apple AirTags and Tile devices are designed for finding lost keys and luggage, but they are small enough to be slipped into someone’s belongings without their knowledge. Law enforcement agencies have reported a sharp increase in stalking cases involving these devices.
State legislatures have responded. By late 2024, multiple states had enacted laws specifically targeting the unauthorized use of tracking devices on another person’s property, with some making it a standalone criminal offense separate from existing stalking statutes. If you find an unknown tracker on your car or in your belongings, report it to law enforcement.
Co-Owned Vehicles: The Gray Area
When two people share title to a vehicle, the picture gets muddier. In most jurisdictions, either co-owner can install a tracking device because both have a property interest in the car. Some courts have pushed back on that reasoning when one co-owner is the vehicle’s exclusive driver and can claim a reasonable expectation of privacy. If you are in a disputed co-ownership situation, especially during a divorce, consult a family law attorney before installing anything.
The co-ownership question applies to the car, not the person inside it. Directly tracking a spouse’s body or personal belongings is never covered by any co-ownership theory.
Rental Cars and Car Sharing
Rental car companies often install telematics or GPS systems in their fleets for recovery of stolen vehicles and fleet management. Several states restrict how rental companies can use GPS data, particularly prohibiting them from using location information to impose fees or penalties on drivers. These laws generally require clear, conspicuous disclosure to the renter when GPS technology is present.
Peer-to-peer car sharing platforms present a newer wrinkle. Some states allow vehicle hosts on sharing platforms to use tracking devices, provided they disclose the tracker’s presence in writing before the renter takes possession. If you are renting through any platform and want to know whether you are being tracked, check the rental agreement for a GPS or telematics disclosure.
What Federal Law Covers
There is no single federal statute that comprehensively governs GPS tracking by private citizens. The federal laws that touch the issue address only pieces of it.
The Electronic Communications Privacy Act, passed in 1986, prohibits intercepting electronic communications but explicitly excludes signals from tracking devices from its definition of “electronic communication.” Its wiretapping protections do not apply to GPS trackers.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. United States Code Title 18 Section 2510 – Definitions
The federal stalking statute, 18 U.S.C. § 2261A, makes it a federal crime to use electronic communications or any facility of interstate commerce to engage in conduct that places someone in reasonable fear of death or serious bodily injury, or that causes substantial emotional distress. Surveillance conducted with intent to harass or intimidate, including GPS tracking that rises to the level of stalking, can be prosecuted under this statute.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. United States Code Title 18 Section 2261A – Stalking
Kevin and Avonte’s Law provides express federal support for tracking in the narrow safety context of finding missing individuals with dementia or developmental disabilities.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. United States Code Title 34 Section 12623 – Standards and Best Practices for Use of Non-Invasive and Non-Permanent Tracking Devices
Because federal law leaves most private GPS tracking unaddressed, state legislatures have filled the gap, and that is where most enforcement happens.
What State Laws Cover
At least 26 states and the District of Columbia have passed laws dealing specifically with private use of location tracking devices. The approaches vary. Some states make it a standalone crime to install a tracker on someone else’s vehicle without consent. Others fold unauthorized tracking into their stalking or harassment statutes. Still others address tracking through broader electronic surveillance laws. A few states have not yet passed any statute that directly mentions tracking devices, though victims in those states can still pursue claims under general stalking, harassment, or invasion-of-privacy laws.
The trend is toward stricter regulation. Multiple states enacted new or expanded tracking-device laws in 2024 alone, many in direct response to the misuse of Bluetooth trackers. Check your state’s specific statutes before using any tracking device on property or people you do not have clear authority over.
Penalties for Illegal Tracking
Getting caught tracking someone illegally triggers both criminal and civil consequences. On the criminal side, unauthorized tracking can be charged as stalking, harassment, or a specific tracking-device offense. In many states a first offense is a misdemeanor carrying up to a year in jail and fines typically ranging from $1,000 to $4,000. Repeated offenses, tracking that violates a protective order, or tracking that causes the victim to fear for their safety can escalate the charge to a felony, with potential prison sentences exceeding one year and fines of $5,000 or more. Using electronic means to stalk someone across state lines can result in federal prosecution under 18 U.S.C. § 2261A, with penalties tied to the severity of the harm caused.4Office of the Law Revision Counsel. United States Code Title 18 Section 2261A – Stalking
On the civil side, the person who was tracked can sue for invasion of privacy, intentional infliction of emotional distress, or under state statutes that create a private right of action for unauthorized tracking. Some states set statutory damages that do not require the victim to prove a specific dollar loss, with fixed awards ranging from $1,000 to $10,000 per violation depending on the jurisdiction. Actual damages for lost wages, therapy costs, and relocation expenses are recoverable on top of any statutory amount. Courts may also award attorneys’ fees to the victim.
A Note on Police Tracking
The rules above apply to private citizens. Law enforcement operates under a different framework built around the Fourth Amendment. Federal law authorizes courts to issue orders permitting police to use mobile tracking devices,5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. United States Code Title 18 Section 3117 – Mobile Tracking Devices and two Supreme Court decisions require warrants for most tracking activity: United States v. Jones (2012) for physically attaching a GPS device to a vehicle,6Cornell Law School. United States v. Jones and Carpenter v. United States (2018) for obtaining historical cell-site location records from a wireless carrier.7Supreme Court of the United States. Carpenter v. United States, 585 U.S. 296 Those constitutional protections govern government conduct, not the neighbor or ex-partner who attaches an AirTag to your car. For private tracking, the ownership-and-consent rule and your state’s statutes are what decide whether the conduct is legal.