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The original was posted on /r/selfhosted by /u/Jannisko on 2025-01-26 17:09:40+00:00.
I recently started looking into implementing some GPS tracking solution for a non-profit org to avoid losing track of cars, keys and important bags. It was important that the solution would be economical and would let us self-host the collected data. I realized that standalone GPS trackers aren't very useful for this, since their battery generally only lasts a few days and they aren't very cheap (which is fair since they need to receive GPS signals and connect to the internet via cell towers).
After wishing there was something like Apple's AirTags, but open source, and doing some research, I found a solution so satisfying I had to share it:
- We are now using custom AirTags (NRF51 chips) flashed with OpenHaystack to act as beacons
- Nearby iPhones are picking up the signal, adding their own location, encrypting it with our public key, and sending it to the Apple servers
- We then wrap findmypy with some simple bridge code (findmy-traccar-bridge) to regularly export and decrypt data from Apple's internal FindMy API and ingest it into a self-hosted GPS tracking service (traccar, though any other service that lets you ingest via an API would work).
Put together, this gives us:
- Small, cheap hardware (1-7€ per tag, depending on how much you trust AliExpress)
- One year of battery life from a single coin battery
- (semi) complete control of our data (it does flow through Apple's servers, but it's encrypted and not connected to any account)
Are any others on r/selfhosted doing their own GPS tracking?