We all have those moments when we just can’t seem to remember where we parked our car and all that's left to is to wonder: "How can I find my car now?" If you're one of those people who have to take a picture of your parking spot to remember where you parked, or if you find yourself wandering, beeping your car remote just to find your vehicle, this list is for you.
Whether you’re running errands, parking for the day, or doing anything else that requires parking, tools exist that can really save you time and reduce pressure.
Read on as we give a breakdown of the top tools to help you find your parked car in seconds.
To use Google Maps to find your car, just set your phone’s location services for the Google Maps app to “always,” and turn on the “know where you parked” option. This will give Google access to your phone’s motion activity so that the app can know when you’re in motion (driving), and when you’ve stopped (parked).
The app also does a lot of things on its own to make your life easier, like sending you notifications of how long you’ve been parked in the same place. This can be really useful for when you’re parked in a spot with a time limit.
Parkify may look straightforward, but this app has more features than it lets on. You can track your car’s location with Bluetooth, or rely on its motion recognition technology to detect every time you step out of your car.
Additionally, you can share your car’s location with others and synchronize the location through multiple apps.
Find My Car Smarter really is smart, and helps you find your car by using a combination of bluetooth and GPS. The second you park, the app will pick up and save your location. When you are done with what you’re doing and need to find your car again, the app shows you the location and tells you how far you are from it.
The best part about the app though, is that it syncs with Dropbox so that the location can be shared between a group or with friends or family members.
Waze, which was acquired by Google for nearly $1 billion, is the popular social-based app that sends you real-time driving directions based off of users’ traffic reports. Though most users know of Waze for its directions and traffic updates, it also has a parking feature.
To use this feature, just close the Waze app after you’ve parked, and the app will automatically add a pin to the parking location on a map. The minute you open your app again, you will see where your car is parked, as well as a walking ETA to get to it.
For an app that can tell you where you parked, as well as guide you to the exact location, try Find My Car. Lauded by the Sunday Telegraph and Wall Street Journal, Find My Car uses maps, street views, and augmented reality to direct you to the exact location of your car. Using Find My Car is as simple as turning on Location Services on your phone and saving your car location on the map once you park.
Find Your Car with AR helps you find your car no matter where you parked. But what gives it an advantage over other apps is that it uses augmented reality technology to make finding your car that much easier. You can see the street address close to where you parked, as well as the surrounding areas.
Honk helps you find a place to park your car and helps you find your car after it’s parked. If you don’t want to rely on the app’s GPS, you can write in a memo directly in the app, or take a photo or video of your spot.
Anchor Point can be as fun to use as it is helpful. This simple navigational tool provides maps, compass readings, and coordinates that help you hunt down your car. But you don’t need to be an adventurer to make sense of it.
The simple, stripped-down interface provides you with arrows and even time estimates in walking distance, making it easy to find your car and have a little fun doing it, even if you don’t have access to WiFi.
My Car Locator is a no-frills app that does just as it says. You can use regular maps or street views to navigate to the spot where you left your car. When you’re ready to leave, the app will give you walking directions complete with directional arrows. My Car Locator Free also has a paid, $1.29 pro version.
ParkMe is an award-winning app that helps you find a parking spot. The app operates in over 123,000 locations, 9,700 cities, and on 7 continents. It’s the largest and most accurate database where you can see real-time information on how many spots are available, and where. The app is always being updated for accuracy.
Not being able to find your car is not only annoying but time-consuming. You can waste precious time walking the streets or wandering empty parking lots. Car locator apps are inexpensive, easy to use, and resolve all your parking issues with minimal effort needed. To save yourself time, use a car locator app, which is sure to make your life easier and less stressful.
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