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Search for a “field employee tracking app” in India and you will find dozens. Most do the same thing: a live map of every employee, all day, with a route history for the manager to check later.
That is one way to manage a field team. It is not the same as keeping them safe, and the difference matters more now that India’s DPDP Act sets rules on what employers may collect. This guide explains the two approaches and gives you twelve questions to ask any vendor.
Two different jobs
Surveillance tracking answers the manager’s question: where is everyone, and did they really visit the client? It typically runs through the working day, records everything, and shows managers a live map.
Safety tracking answers a different question: is this person all right, and who acts if they are not? It shares location only when it helps the employee, during a work trip or an emergency, and puts its effort into check-ins, escalation and SOS.
Both have a place. But mixing them up causes problems:
- Staff who feel watched switch off location, leave the phone in the car, or quit. Then the safety part fails too.
- All-day records are hard to justify under the DPDP Act’s purpose and minimum-data principles, and every extra record is something to secure.
- A live map does not alert anybody. A person can sit still at a roadside for an hour while the map shows a dot.
If your main goal is safety, choose a tool built for safety.
What the law expects
The DPDP Act, 2023 treats location as personal data. Employment purposes are a recognised basis for processing it, but the duties remain: use it only for the stated purpose, keep it secure, and delete it when the purpose is served. Most duties under the DPDP Rules, 2025 apply from May 2027, which is why companies are fixing their tools now.
Read our full guide to employee location tracking and the DPDP Act.
12 questions to ask any vendor
When and what
- When is location collected? All day, during working hours, or only during a trip the employee starts?
- Can the employee see when sharing is on, and does it stop by itself when the trip ends?
- Does it work on personal phones without reading contacts, photos or messages?
Who sees it
- Who can see live location? Every manager, all of HR, or a small named desk?
- Is every look recorded, and can the employee see who looked?
- How long are detailed routes kept, and are they deleted automatically?
When something goes wrong
- What happens when someone is late? Does anyone get alerted by itself, or does a manager have to notice?
- Is there an escalation with levels and times, and one visible owner?
- Does the SOS work without unlocking the phone, and without mobile data?
- Does the desk get an alert it cannot miss, on the phone and in the browser?
Practical
- What is the battery cost on a budget Android phone over a full day?
- Where is the data stored, and who is the security contact? Ask for the security and privacy documents before a pilot.
A good vendor answers all twelve in writing. A vague answer to questions 1, 4 or 7 tells you which job the product was built for.
A fair rule to give your team
Location is shared only during a work trip you start, or when you raise an SOS. It stops when you end the trip. Only the Safety Desk can see it, every look is recorded, and detailed routes are deleted after seven days.
People accept a rule like this, because it is about them, not about their manager.
How ORBII Teams is built
ORBII Teams is a safety app, not a tracking app.
- Location only during a trip the employee starts, or an SOS. The company type sets the rest: field teams share during trips; office teams only if a trip runs late; universities only during an SOS.
- A small circle of viewers: the account owner and the Safety Desk. HR admins manage people and settings but never see location.
- Every look recorded, and detailed routes deleted after seven days.
- Automatic check-in and check-out at your sites, during a trip, so visits are recorded without a manager watching a map.
- Missed check-ins escalate by themselves, up to five levels, until someone takes ownership.
- SOS by button, voice or a silent shake, and by text message without data.
- Never health data for the employer.
See how it works on the ORBII Teams page.
This article is general information, not legal advice.
Frequently asked questions
Is it legal to track field employees in India?
Generally yes, for genuine work purposes, if the tracking is limited to what that purpose needs, employees are told clearly, and the data is protected and deleted when no longer needed. Tracking outside working hours or on leave is much harder to justify under the DPDP Act. This is general information, not legal advice.
Can a company track employees on their personal phones?
Only with great care. On a personal phone the line between work and private life is thin, so location should be shared only during a clearly defined work activity, such as a trip the employee starts, and stop when it ends. The employee should always see when sharing is on.
What is the difference between a tracking app and a safety app?
A tracking app answers the manager's question: where is everyone, all day? A safety app answers a different one: is this person all right, and who acts if they are not? Safety apps share location only when it helps the employee, during a trip or an emergency, and focus on check-ins, escalation and SOS.
Does GPS tracking drain the phone battery?
Continuous high-accuracy GPS all day can. Apps that track only during a trip, and sample location less often when the person is still, use much less. Ask any vendor for its battery approach, and test it on the cheapest phone your team uses.