How to find a GPS tracker or tracking tag on your car

Updated October 23, 2026 · 8 min read

Two very different devices get called “car trackers”, and you search for them in different ways.

  • Bluetooth tags such as AirTag, Tile and SmartTag are small, battery-powered and sold for keeping track of belongings like keys and bags. The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) notes that they can easily be slipped into a bag or car, and that it most often hears of them hidden inside bags and on cars, including behind the license plate. They have no GPS of their own and rely on finding networks such as Apple’s Find My network.
  • Cellular GPS trackers combine GPS with a mobile data connection and report their position over the mobile network. NYU researchers (USENIX VehicleSec 2025) say perpetrators often use them to follow drivers, helped by their low cost, easy availability online and small size. Some run on batteries, some plug into the car’s diagnostic port for power, and others are wired in.

Your phone can help with the first kind. The second kind needs a physical search.

If you think a partner, an ex or someone else you know is tracking you, read the last section before you remove anything.

Step 1: Let your phone check for Bluetooth tags

Apple’s built-in alerts cover AirTag, Find My network accessories, some AirPods and, since iOS 17.5, compatible Bluetooth trackers from other makers. That last part rests on an industry specification created by Apple and Google; the two companies announced on May 13, 2024 that alerts based on it were arriving in iOS 17.5 and Android 6.0 and later. To receive the alerts on an iPhone:

  1. Update to iOS 17.5 or later.
  2. In Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services, turn Location Services on.
  3. In Settings > Bluetooth, turn Bluetooth on.
  4. In Settings > Notifications > Tracking Notifications, turn on Allow Notifications.
  5. Keep Airplane Mode off. Apple says you won’t receive tracking notifications in Airplane Mode.

If you see an alert such as “AirTag Found Moving With You”, tap it, tap Continue, then tap Play Sound. On an iPhone with Ultra Wideband, Find Nearby can guide you to an unknown AirTag. In the Find My app, the bottom of the Items tab lists unknown items that were detected with you. Our guide to an AirTag detected near you walks through each step.

If you find an AirTag, hold the top of your iPhone near its white side. A web page shows its serial number and the last four digits of the owner’s phone number. Take a screenshot.

On Android 6.0 or later, the phone can alert you automatically and run a manual scan. The Tracker Detect app on Google Play is another option.

The limits: alerts are not instant. Apple says they appear when an item is seen moving with you over time. In tests with iOS 16 published in 2023 (PoPETs), AirTag alerts took about eight hours in the daytime, and EFF noted in 2024 that it can take up to 24 hours. In EFF’s testing, newer tracker models weren’t always detected. Cellular-only trackers aren’t covered at all. More on what the alerts catch in how to know if a tracker is following you.

Step 2: Search the car

Park somewhere safe and well lit, with the engine off and the exhaust cool. Bring a flashlight, and use a mirror or your phone’s camera for spots you can’t see directly. Never get under a car that is held up only by a jack.

Check each of these:

  1. The OBD-II diagnostic port under the dashboard (your car’s manual shows where). SlashGear notes that many trackers are designed to plug directly into this port for power. Before assuming the worst, check whether an insurer, dealer, employer or previous owner fitted the device.
  2. The bumpers: inside them and in any gaps.
  3. All four wheel wells: look for attached devices or wires sticking out.
  4. Underneath: the frame and other metal where a magnetic case could be attached, and the area around the exhaust.
  5. Behind the license plate.
  6. Under the hood.
  7. Inside the cabin: under and between the seats, the dashboard area, the steering wheel and the glove compartment.
  8. The trunk: take out the spare tire and look in and around the well.
  9. Bags and anything else that lives in the car.

You are looking for anything that doesn’t belong: a tag, a small box, a device plugged into a port, or wiring that doesn’t match the rest.

Step 3: Use your phone as a helper

Both helpers narrow down where to look. Neither proves anything on its own.

Bluetooth scan

Turn off your own earbuds and watch. Then walk slowly around the car, and through the cabin, with a Bluetooth scanner app for a minute or two.

  • What it can name. Tile, Samsung SmartTag and tags on Google’s Find Hub network broadcast identifiers that a scanner app can recognize, and so do Chipolo and Pebblebee tags that use their makers’ own apps. For SmartTags and Find Hub tags, an app can also read whether the tag has been away from its owner. The published source code of AirGuard, a tracker detector from TU Darmstadt researchers, shows how this works on an iPhone.
  • What it can’t name. On an iPhone, an AirTag shows up only as an unnamed device, because iOS doesn’t pass Apple’s own data from the broadcast on to apps. No app can tell for sure whether an AirTag belongs to someone nearby, and a street of parked cars and homes has plenty of normal unnamed devices.
  • Warmer or colder, not a distance. Signal strength rises as you get closer, but it jumps around. In a 2026 University College London study (SOUPS), participants struggled to find a Tile by signal strength alone. Use it to pick the part of the car to search, then search by hand.
  • What it misses. Cellular GPS trackers without Bluetooth, and tags that are switched off.

Magnet finder

Apple lists a magnetometer and a digital compass in the iPhone 17 Pro’s specifications and warns that magnetic interference affects compass accuracy. A magnet-finder tool reads that sensor, so a tracker’s magnetic mount can make the reading jump.

  • How close you need to be. We estimate that a tracker’s magnet mount might show from roughly 5–15 cm (2–6 inches) away on a car, depending on the magnet and the steel around it. That is our estimate from magnet physics, not a measurement. Weaker sources need the phone almost touching them: in a 2023 lab test (USENIX Security), detector apps reacted to spy devices only within about two centimeters.
  • How to sweep. Take off a magnetic case or wallet. Hold the back of the phone 2–5 cm (1–2 inches) from the surface and move it slowly along the inside edges of the bumpers, the wheel wells and the sills, and under the seats. Compare each spot with the same spot on the other side of the car. The steel is similar on both sides, so a jump on one side only is the one worth a closer look.
  • What it can’t tell you. What made the reading. A tracker’s magnet, a door speaker, a seat motor, a metal bracket and the car’s own steel all move it. Trackers plugged into the OBD-II port or wired in usually have no magnet at all. Treat a jump as a reason to look there with the flashlight, never as proof.

Worried about a camera inside the car? The flashlight check in can your phone detect hidden cameras? works in the cabin too.

What a phone can’t find

The NYU researchers write that no earlier research addressed detecting hidden cellular trackers. Their method analyzes the tracker’s uplink radio frequencies with standard commercial hardware and works reliably within about three feet. That is radio measurement a phone app cannot do, so for cellular trackers the physical search above, or a professional, is what you have.

Also remember the trackers that aren’t hidden devices at all. NNEDV’s Safety Net Project points out that anyone with access to your Apple or Google account can see your phone’s location. For a car’s own connected services, it suggests trying to get control of the account or having the service discontinued.

When to get a mechanic or the police

  • A mechanic can put the car on a lift and check the wiring. SlashGear advises taking a car with a hardwired tracker to a professional mechanic. NNEDV suggests a mechanic or a private investigator if you don’t want to involve the police.
  • The police. NNEDV’s advice: if you want to report it, first ask them to look. Apple says law enforcement can work with Apple to request information about an AirTag or Find My accessory and may need the device and its serial number. Apple also notes that using these products to track people without their consent is a crime in many countries.
  • In danger right now? Go to a safe public place and call your local emergency number.

If you think someone you know is tracking you

Safety comes before removal. EFF calls a safety plan “an important step to take before you do anything else”, and warns that disabling a Bluetooth tracker by removing its battery alerts whoever put it there. NNEDV warns that changes will often alert the other person, who might become more abusive, and that changes might also erase evidence.

So document first, if it feels safe: photos, dates, serial numbers, and anything the person said that suggests they knew where you were. Note that turning off Bluetooth or Location Services on your iPhone does not stop the owner from seeing the tracker’s location; according to Apple, only disabling the item does. If you need help, a domestic-violence advocate can work through the options with you. Apple’s support page lists the Safety Net Project at NNEDV and the National Center for Victims of Crime in the US, Refuge in the UK, and WESNET in Australia. Elsewhere, contact a local domestic-violence support service.

For what to do with any device you find, see what to do if you find a hidden camera.

SpyOff, our upcoming iPhone app, has a car check that walks you through these spots with Bluetooth and magnet helpers. Like any phone app, it can’t see a cellular-only tracker.

AirTag, AirPods, Find My and iPhone are trademarks of Apple Inc. Tile, SmartTag, Chipolo, Pebblebee, Android and other product names are trademarks of their respective owners.

Questions

Will my iPhone tell me if there's a tracker on my car?

Only for some trackers. With iOS 17.5 or later and Bluetooth, Location Services and Tracking Notifications on, an iPhone alerts you when an AirTag, a Find My network accessory or a compatible Bluetooth tracker that is away from its owner moves with you over time. Cellular-only GPS trackers are not covered by these alerts.

Where are GPS trackers hidden on a car?

Common places to check are the OBD-II port under the dashboard, the frame and other metal underneath where a magnetic case can stick, the wheel wells, the bumpers, behind the license plate, under the hood, under and between the seats, and the trunk and spare-tire area.

Should I remove a tracker I find on my car?

If you think someone you know put it there, not straight away. Removing or disabling it can alert that person, and advocates warn that some people escalate when monitoring is cut off. Document it first, make a safety plan, and ask the police to look at it.

Sources

More guides

How to check a rental for hidden cameras A step-by-step check-in routine for short-term rentals: what to read before you arrive, seven checks to run before you unpack, and what those checks can miss. How to check a hotel room for hidden cameras A short routine for hotel rooms and how it differs from a rental: cameras in lobbies and hallways are normal, the room is what to check, and a hotel Wi-Fi scan proves little. Can your phone detect hidden cameras? What each method finds and misses An honest, method-by-method look at what an iPhone can and can't detect: lens glint, infrared glow, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth device lists, and the magnetometer.