This article provides an overview of the best car locator apps available for Android and iOS platforms. The apps listed here utilize GPS technology to help users locate their parked vehicles with ease. The features, functionality, and user interface of each app have been evaluated to provide a comprehensive comparison for prospective users. This information will assist individuals in selecting the most suitable car locator app that meets their specific needs.
We have compiled a list of 10 Best Car Locator Apps For Android & iOS for your consideration, which have undergone rigorous testing and evaluation by our team of experts.
Table of Contents
10 Best Car Locator Apps For Android & iOS
1. Anchor Pointer Compass GPS
Anchor Pointer is an application that allows iPhone users to navigate without an internet connection. With this app, users can easily save a place or a parked car and find it later, making it a useful tool for those who frequently spend time in open parking lots. In fact, with Anchor Pointer, finding a parked car can take less than a minute.
The app has received positive feedback from users who have found it to be accurate and easy to use. One user tested it while hiking and found that it worked great, guiding them right back to their car and even showing how far away it was. Another user found it to be a must-have for off-road driving and hiking. A third user recommended it for orienteering during a weekend hike in the Peak District.
It should be noted that the Park Car feature only works in open parking lots due to GPS restrictions. Overall, Anchor Pointer can be a useful tool for travelers and hikers who want to navigate without an internet connection and easily find saved locations, including parked cars.
2. Find Your Car with AR
Find Your Car with AR is an application that utilizes Augmented Reality (AR) to help users locate their parked vehicles. The app provides users with the direction of their car’s location, the street address near where they parked, the distance to their car, and the date and time it was parked. The AR view displays this information in a user-friendly format, making it easy for anyone to navigate.
The app offers several features that allow users to customize their experience. The 3D AR technology offers two levels of accuracy: normal and high, giving users the option to choose how accurate they want the direction to be. Additionally, the application can be used to locate any parked item, not just cars. The premium version of the app offers additional features, such as the ability to mark favorite parking spots and to save positions directly from an Apple Watch.
To use the application, users must tap the “I parked here” button and select the desired GPS accuracy level after parking their vehicle. Once the car’s position is saved, the app can be closed. When users need to return to their vehicle, they can open the app and follow the directional arrow or view the map. Users can save a new position by tapping the “I parked here” button again. It is important to note that Find Your Car with AR is intended for outdoor use.
3. Apple maps
Apple Maps has made navigation and exploration easier while keeping users’ privacy protected. The latest version of the app offers several new features, including detailed city maps with elevation, landmarks, crosswalks, and turn lanes. Users can also navigate complex interchanges with 3D views. Immersive walking directions provide step-by-step guidance in augmented reality. The updated transit experience offers one-tap access to departures, makes it easy to interact with routes using one hand, and notifies users when approaching their stop.
Redesigned place cards make it easier to learn about and interact with places, while the new home for Guides editorially curates the best recommendations for places users will love. An interactive 3D globe shows enhanced details for mountain ranges, deserts, forests, oceans, and more. Users can use voice-guided turn-by-turn navigation for driving, cycling, or walking, and get real-time transit schedules and directions via subways, buses, trains, and ferries.
The app allows users to check real-time traffic conditions, incidents, and road closures. Users can also see speed limits for the road they’re driving on and get guidance on which lane they should be in before their next move. They can report incidents in the Maps app and see incidents reported by other users, including accidents, hazards, and speed checks. Users can get cycling directions that take elevation and busy streets into account, plan their drive or transit journey by choosing a future departure or arrival time, and find their parked car and get directions to it.
Users can look up information about places, including hours, photos, ratings, reviews, and support for Apple Pay. They can search and browse by category, such as food, drink, shopping, and more. Users can rate and add photos to places they’ve visited and discover great places to eat, shop, and explore with curated Guides from trusted brands. They can also make restaurant reservations, dial phone numbers, and open websites directly from within Maps.
4. Parking Pin
Parking Pin is a mobile application that helps users remember where they parked their car and guides them back to it. Unlike other parking apps, Parking Pin doesn’t require users to manually input their parking spot. Instead, the app uses the Motion Coprocessors in newer iPhones and Location Services to automatically pinpoint the location of the user’s parked car in the background, even when the phone is asleep or when other apps are being used.
For users without newer iPhones, Parking Pin still allows them to easily save their parking spot by manually dropping a pin on the app’s map or repositioning an existing pin for a more accurate location. The app provides walking directions to the user’s car and displays the distance to it in feet or meters.
Parking Pin’s built-in meter feature allows users to easily track their parking time and expiration, eliminating the need for mental calculations. The app notifies users when their meter is about to expire and allows them to add multiple notes to a pin.
Other features of Parking Pin include a compass that continuously points in the direction of the user’s car, the ability to orient the map to the user’s direction, and the option to switch between map styles. The app can track up to 30 days of parking pins and all data remains private to the user’s device.
To use Parking Pin, users must have iOS7+ and Location Services enabled for the app in their device’s settings. The app’s automatic pin finder feature requires a device with the M7 or M8 chip, Location services enabled, Motion Activity authorized, and Background App Refresh enabled. The app should only be used in open areas as indoor garages, interference, weather conditions, and locations with poor coverage may affect accuracy. By downloading and using Parking Pin, users agree to the app’s Terms of Use.
5. ParKing: Where is my car?
ParKing is an app designed to help users locate their parked vehicles. The app offers several features including one-click parking, parking history, automatic parking detection, user-defined zones, parking time reminder, navigation options, indoor/underground parking support, tablet support, smartwatch support, and a home screen widget.
One-click parking allows the user to save a parking reminder on a map with just one click. Upon clicking, ParKing displays the location and address of the parked vehicle and the user’s current location.
ParKing saves all previous parking places, allowing the user to edit or delete each parking place or view them on a map. Automatic parking detection uses the user’s car’s Bluetooth device to detect when the user has parked and automatically saves the location.
With user-defined zones, the user can define places where they park often and will not receive automatic parking notifications. ParKing will silently save the parking place and only notify the user when they park in a new location.
A parking time reminder can be added for users with limited parking time. The app notifies the user when their parking time is about to end.
ParKing offers multiple navigation options including using the user’s preferred navigation app, a built-in map with a marker of the parking place, or a built-in compass to locate the car.
For indoor or underground parking where GPS signal may not be available, the user can add a photo or text note to aid in finding the parked vehicle.
ParKing is available for Android tablets and smartwatches. It requires GPS and Bluetooth to access all parking features. All actions performed on the smartwatch are synced with the smartphone ParKing app.
6. Find my parked car
Forgetting where one has parked their car can be an issue. This can especially be a problem for tourists in unfamiliar cities or those in a rush. The Android app presented here aims to solve this problem by allowing users to locate their parked cars easily. This is achieved through a map that enables the user to find their car with just a few clicks.
The app works by archiving the location of the car through the use of GPS and mobile networks. This means that users only need to store the car’s location in the app. Then, in order to find the car, the user only needs to launch the “parking spot!” feature. This will open up a map that leads the user back to their car.
The app is compatible with all Android versions that are higher than 5.0. This ensures that a large majority of Android users can take advantage of this feature. By using this app, users can save themselves the hassle of wandering around trying to locate their parked cars.
7. Fixy – Find My Car
Fixy Find My Car is a mobile application that enables users to save the precise location of their parked car, motorcycle or any other vehicle. This app is designed to eliminate the problem of forgetting where one has parked a vehicle. Users can easily access the app, save the location of their vehicle, and retrieve it later by opening the app.
The app offers a range of features that allow users to find their parked vehicle with ease. These features include opening GPS to guide users to the car or tracing the route in the app. Users can also visualize the distance between their current location and the parked vehicle, view the address of the parked car, and change the type of map to their preference. The app also allows users to take a picture of their vehicle, share the location with others using WhatsApp, email, and create different cars to save the location of multiple vehicles.
Furthermore, users can access a history of saved locations, set an alarm to notify them of the completion of the parking meter, and save the parking area in which they parked their car. Fixy Find My Car uses GPS positioning to locate the parked vehicle. This app is a useful tool for anyone who wants to avoid the hassle of forgetting where they parked their car.
8. SpotAngels
SpotAngels is an app that aims to make parking easier for drivers. The app offers various features, including finding free parking, booking parking deals, paying meters by the minute, and receiving street cleaning notifications. Users can pay using Google Pay within the app.
One of the app’s main features is the ability to find free and available street parking. The app provides a crowdsourced map of all street parking spots, including detailed rules kept up-to-date by the community. The app also displays where users are likely to find available street parking based on live and historical reports of open spots by the community. Users can search and filter the map in one tap to find free parking and save money.
Another feature of the app is the ability to book the best parking deals. SpotAngels displays on the map all the parking garages with hours and rates and lets users book parking deals in advance. The app enables users to pay directly within the app in one click with Google Pay.
The app allows users to pay meters by the minute in select cities to avoid overpaying or the meter running out of money. Users can also get street cleaning and alternate side parking hours for their neighborhood to see where to park and avoid receiving a parking ticket.
SpotAngels automatically remembers users’ parking location using their car’s Bluetooth and sends them notifications when it’s time to move their car for street cleaning or any other street parking rule. The app also enables users in the SpotAngels community to add or edit parking rules and report open spots for other drivers.
SpotAngels is available in several cities, including Atlanta, Austin, Berkeley, Boston, Chicago, Columbus, Dallas, Detroit, Hoboken, Houston, Indianapolis, Jacksonville, Los Angeles, Miami, New York City, Oakland, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Portland, San Antonio, San Diego, San Francisco, San Jose, Santa Monica, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.
9. Find My Car
The app provides a range of features designed to help users remember where they parked their car. It allows users to store GPS positions of their car, hotel, or any other location, view their current position and car position on a map, and use Google Navigation or an external app to navigate to their car. Additionally, users can access offline navigation with a compass and share stored positions or current positions with friends. The app also provides an emergency button feature that enables users to send a pre-configured SMS with their current position to a family member with only two clicks.
Users can take pictures of their parking spot, store as many positions as they need, and use the import/export feature for backup. The app also provides a one-click widget that enables users to store their current parking position and find it again with one click. The app is not compatible with external SD cards and must be installed on the internal memory for the widget to work.
The app is not limited to just GPS car parking but is also useful for hiking, allowing users to find their car again or meet with friends. All features are explained on the help page, with additional features available by swiping to the right. The app is free of charge, but users can donate 0.99€ or 1.21$ (US-Dollar) to remove ads.
The app requires GPS access and network permissions for Google Ads, the coupon system, and the internal map. Access to the SD card is only needed to store pictures taken within the app and for the import/export feature. The app does not collect personal data beyond these features.
10. Car Finder
The device employs internet and GPS technologies to determine the location and capture images for the purpose of recording parking information. Additionally, it features navigation functionality, enabling users to conveniently locate their vehicle.