Texas GPS Tracking Laws: Is It Legal to Put a Tracker on a Car? (2026)

A GPS tracker the size of a matchbox can report a car's location every few minutes for weeks on a single charge. In Texas, hiding one on someone else's vehicle is a crime. And since September 1, 2023, secretly tracking a person with an AirTag or a phone app is a crime too.

This guide is part of our GPS Tracking Laws by State series. It covers Texas Penal Code 16.06, the 2023 harassment law that finally reached Bluetooth trackers, the unusual written-consent rule for private investigators, and your options if you find a device on your car.

Is It Legal to Put a GPS Tracker on a Car in Texas?

Only if you own or lease the vehicle, or you get the owner's or lessee's permission before you install the device. Texas Penal Code 16.06, titled Unlawful Installation of Tracking Device, makes secret installation a crime, and the 2023 harassment amendments criminalize most other forms of covert tracking.

Here is how the law plays out in the situations people actually ask about:

• Your own car: Legal. The statute only protects vehicles owned or leased by another person.
• Your spouse's car, titled only in their name: Illegal without their consent before installation.
• A jointly titled car: Installing a tracker likely falls outside 16.06 because you are an owner, but using it to monitor your spouse without consent can still be harassment under the 2023 law.
• Your teen driver's car: Legal if you own or lease it, which most parents do.
• An ex's car or belongings: Illegal, and exactly the conduct the 2023 amendments were written to reach.
• A private investigator tracking a cheating spouse: Legal only with written consent from the vehicle's owner or lessee or a court order. "The client hired me" is not a defense.

Texas Penal Code 16.06: The Vehicle Tracking Crime

Section 16.06 says a person commits an offense if the person knowingly installs an electronic or mechanical tracking device on a motor vehicle owned or leased by another person. The offense is a Class A misdemeanor, the most serious misdemeanor level in Texas.

A few details in that sentence matter.

It is an installation crime. The offense is complete the moment the device goes on the vehicle. Prosecutors do not have to prove you ever looked at the location data.

It covers more than GPS. The statute defines a tracking device as one capable of emitting an electronic frequency or other signal that can be used to identify, monitor, or record the location of a person or object. That language reaches GPS units, cellular trackers, and Bluetooth tags attached to a vehicle.

It only protects motor vehicles owned or leased by another. A tracker dropped into a backpack, a coat pocket, or a stroller was never covered by 16.06. For two decades, that was the gap in Texas law. The 2023 Legislature closed it, as explained below.

Peace officers are excluded. The statute does not apply to peace officers performing official duties. Even so, the U.S. Supreme Court held in United States v. Jones (2012) that attaching a GPS device to a suspect's car and monitoring its movements is a Fourth Amendment search, so police generally need a warrant.

The 2023 Upgrade: AirTags and Tracking Apps Are Now Harassment

Until 2023, Texas had no good answer for AirTag stalking. Section 16.06 requires a device installed on a motor vehicle, so a coin-sized tracker slipped into a purse, or spyware loaded onto a phone, fell through the cracks.

House Bill 2715, passed by the 88th Legislature and effective September 1, 2023, fixed that. It amended the harassment statute, Penal Code 42.07, so that a person commits harassment by tracking or monitoring another person's personal property or motor vehicle without that person's effective consent. The amendment expressly covers doing it through a tracking application on a personal electronic device as well as through a physical tracking device.

In practice, that means:

• Dropping an AirTag or Tile into someone's bag, jacket, or car can be charged as harassment even though nothing was installed on a vehicle.
• Secretly activating a tracking or location-sharing app on someone's phone is treated the same way.
• The base offense is a Class B misdemeanor, rising to Class A in certain cases, such as when the defendant has a prior harassment conviction.

One important element: harassment requires intent to harass, annoy, alarm, abuse, torment, or embarrass the victim. Ordinary, disclosed uses of trackers, like a family sharing locations by agreement or a company monitoring its own fleet, are not harassment.

The harassment statute also feeds directly into Texas stalking law. Under Penal Code 42.072, repeated tracking incidents aimed at the same person as part of the same scheme can be prosecuted as stalking, a third-degree felony. With a prior stalking conviction, it becomes a second-degree felony.

Who Can Legally Track a Vehicle in Texas

Section 16.06 builds its exceptions as affirmative defenses, meaning the person charged has to raise and prove them. There are three main paths to lawful tracking, plus the police exclusion.

1. The owner's or lessee's effective consent, obtained first. Consent must come from the vehicle's owner or lessee and must be given before the device is installed. After-the-fact forgiveness does not undo the crime.

2. Assisting law enforcement. A person who installs a device while assisting a peace officer they reasonably believe is authorized to use it in a criminal investigation has a defense.

3. Licensed private investigators, with paperwork. An investigator licensed under Occupations Code Chapter 1702 has a defense only if the PI obtained written consent from the vehicle's owner or lessee, plus written consent from the property owner if installing the device required entering private residential property, or the PI is acting under court authorization.

That written-consent rule surprises a lot of people. Spouses routinely hire investigators assuming the PI can legally tag the other spouse's car. If the target owns or leases that car and has not signed off, the PI cannot. An investigator who does it anyway faces the same Class A misdemeanor as anyone else, plus disciplinary action against their Chapter 1702 license.

4. Peace officers. Officers performing official duties are outside the statute entirely, subject to the Fourth Amendment warrant requirement from United States v. Jones.

Remember that these are defenses to the installation crime. The 2023 harassment law analyzes the conduct separately, so tracking that is technically outside 16.06 can still be charged under 42.07 when it is done without consent and with intent to harass or alarm.

Can My Employer Track My Car in Texas?

Company vehicles: yes. The employer owns or leases the vehicle, so the consent question answers itself. Texas has no statute requiring an employer to notify employees that a company vehicle carries GPS, and no statute limiting tracking to work hours, although well-run fleet policies disclose it anyway.

Your personal car: only with your consent. An employer that installs a tracker on a vehicle you own or lease without your prior effective consent commits a Class A misdemeanor under 16.06. Employers that reimburse mileage for personal vehicles typically get tracking consent in writing through an employment agreement or an app's terms, which satisfies the statute.

If workplace monitoring is your bigger concern, our guide to Texas recording laws covers audio and video surveillance on the job.

Penalties for Illegal GPS Tracking in Texas

Federal law adds a final layer. The federal stalking statute, 18 U.S.C. 2261A, reaches using a GPS device or other electronic monitoring as part of a course of conduct that places a victim in fear or causes substantial emotional distress, including conduct that crosses state lines.

Civil Options and Protective Orders

Texas does not give tracking victims a fixed statutory damages claim the way California does. But victims are not without civil remedies.

Invasion of privacy. Texas courts recognize the tort of intrusion on seclusion: an intentional intrusion into another person's solitude or private affairs that would be highly offensive to a reasonable person. The Texas Supreme Court addressed the scope of privacy claims in Valenzuela v. Aquino (1993), and weeks of covert location surveillance is the kind of intrusion the tort exists for. Damages depend on what you can prove, so keep records.

Protective orders. Code of Criminal Procedure Chapter 7B lets victims of stalking apply for a protective order without needing a family or dating relationship with the offender. Victims of family violence can seek protective orders through the Family Code. Our guide to Texas restraining order laws walks through both processes.

Divorce and custody leverage. Evidence gathered through an illegal tracker tends to backfire in family court. Judges can exclude it, and the spouse who planted the device, along with any investigator who helped, can face criminal exposure that reshapes the whole case.

What to Do If You Find a Tracker on Your Car

1. Photograph the device in place before touching it. Location, wiring, and mounting all matter as evidence.
2. Do not destroy it. The device, its serial number, and any account it pairs with can identify who planted it.
3. Report it to your local police department and reference Penal Code 16.06 and 42.07. Ask for a case number.
4. If an abusive partner may have planted it, plan before removing it. Removal tells the person tracking you that you found it. The National Domestic Violence Hotline (800-799-7233) can help you build a safety plan, and a Chapter 7B protective order can follow the police report.
5. Check your phone too. The 2023 law exists because tracking apps are as common as physical devices. Review location-sharing settings, unknown apps, and AirTag alerts on iPhone or the unknown tracker alerts on Android.
6. Sweep for other surveillance. Hidden trackers and hidden cameras often travel together. See our guide to surveillance camera laws by state for what is legal there.

Frequently Asked Questions

Sources

• Tex. Penal Code 16.06 - Unlawful Installation of Tracking Device
• Tex. Penal Code 42.07 (Harassment) and 42.072 (Stalking)
• House Bill 2715, 88th Legislature (2023), enrolled text
• Tex. Occupations Code Chapter 1702 - Private Security
• Tex. Code of Criminal Procedure Chapter 7B - Protective Orders
• 18 U.S.C. 2261A - Federal stalking statute
• United States v. Jones, 565 U.S. 400 (2012)

Disclaimer: This article is legal information, not legal advice. Laws change and every situation is different. If you are dealing with illegal tracking, stalking, or a family law dispute involving a GPS device, consult a licensed Texas attorney. If you are in immediate danger, call 911.