History Main / TrackingDevice

* ''Series/AlteredCarbon''. Detective Kristin Ortega is illegally using Hawkeye software to keep tabs on Takeshi Kovacs. Turns out in the pilot episode she slipped a bug under the [=AddBlocker=] she put on Kovacs' neck to prevent him being overwhelmed by the AdvertOverloadedFuture. When Kovacs is captured and taken to a torture clinic (which is shielded against transmissions), his captors search him and remove the bug, which they see as evidence that Kovacs is an undercover police officer (he's not). After escaping, Kovacs leaves the bug in the clenched fist of a headless corpse, [[FlippingTheBird middle finger raised]], for Ortega to find.
* ''Series/{{Arrow}}''. Oliver Queen has a TrickArrow laced with "particulate nanotechnology" (apparently something he picked up from A.R.G.U.S), enabling it to be tracked by GPS anywhere in the world thanks to a software program written by Felicity Smoak.
* ''Series/Batman1966''
** Episode "The Joker's Flying Saucer". When Alfred is forced to help the Joker assemble the flying saucer, he puts several Bat tracking signals inside the saucer so Batman can learn its location after it lands.
** "Batman Stands Pat". The Mad Hatter is kidnapping members of the jury that convicted him and stealing their hats. Batman has Alfred plant a Bat Homing Transmitter in the hat of the last juror so he can trace the Mad Hatter's location when he steals the hat.
** "The Penguin Declines". The female villain Venus deserts the Joker and falls in love with Batman. However, the Joker anticipated that she would do so and planted a tacking signal in her shoe. He later uses the signal to find Venus's location and send the Penguin (?!) to seduce her.

* ''Series/BlackMirror''. In "Metalhead", the KillerRobot [[RobotDog Dogs]] shoot shrapnel bombs; not to kill their prey, but rather to tag them with hard-to-remove tracking devices, the better to hunt them down with. [[spoiler:The protagonist is able to remove the tracker and disable the Dog that's been chasing her throughout the episode, but its last act is to fire a bomb to tag her once more. Realising there's no escape, she kills herself rather than suffer the same ordeal again.]]
* ''Series/BlakesSeven''.
** In "Traitor", the Federation release a prisoner so he'll make contact with the rebel unit that sent him to infiltrate their base. He's unknowingly swallowed a tracer, and they launch missiles on his position when the signal shows he hasn't moved for a while, assuming that's the rebel base. Turns out he was just waiting at a rendezvous point, and the rebels were waiting for the cover of night before going to collect him.
** In "City at the Edge of the World", [[DirtyCoward Vila]] is bullied into going on a solo mission, and is told to swallow a tracer. But Vila resents his colleagues' actions so much he palms it instead. When he later goes missing...
--->'''Avon:''' Orac, can you give me a precise fix on that tracer?
--->'''[[MasterComputer Orac]]:''' Of course I can!
--->'''Avon:''' Where is it then?
--->'''Orac:''' Under the box which is ten centimetres from your right hand.
** In "Shadow", a radioactive element is added to the titular drug Shadow, so the local organised crime boss can track all the addicts. No-one cares if the addicts get cancer because they inevitably die from the drug.

[[folder:Film -- Animated]]

[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* Both the heroes and villains use these in ''Anime/ScienceNinjaTeamGatchaman''. Finding or evading them are plot points in several episodes.
* ''LightNovel/FullMetalPanic''. A captured A21 terrorist has the device implanted under his skin, so our heroes use a microwave oven to destroy it (holding down the door safety button so the microwave will work with the door open). Unfortunately he then pickpockets a mobile phone from Kaname, and signals his location that way.

* ''Literature/RebuildWorld'':
** After Akira is seriously impressed by Sheryl [[GamerChick clearing a game he could barely even start]], he [[ChekhovsGun gives her his phone ]]which had been hacked by his VirtualSidekick Alpha. Thus when Sheryl’s is held in a HostageSituation, the phone is used as this to allow Akira to find and free her.
** After the MadScientist Yatsubiyashi turns Tiol into a TragicMonster while PlayingWithSyringes, he keeps track of Tiol using one of these planted inside his body. He loses contact once Tsubaki hacks into Tiol’s systems, prompting Yatsubiyashi to launch an expedition into the ruins with the excuse of running a for-profit field clinic.

* Often used by Franchise/{{Batman}}. If he doesn't want them to know who's tracking them, they're small, black, and anonymous. Most of the time, though, he does want the target to know; that's when he breaks out the ones with the bat logo or that are shaped like a bat.
* ComicBook/BlackWidow's gauntlets can fire tracking devices. They were inspired by Spidey's web-shooters InUniverse.

* ''ComicBook/TheKillersOfKrypton'': As ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'s ship is being repaired on planet Mogo, [[BigBad Empress Gandelo]]'s minion C'Zal hides a tracking device aboard her ship which lets Gandelo track Supergirl through the galaxy.

* Also commonly used by Franchise/SpiderMan, usually ones with a "spider" theme or mark. It was a ''Spider-Man'' comic that [[https://www.bleedingcool.com/2012/06/24/when-spider-man-invented-electronic-tagging/ led]] to the invention of electronic tagging.

[[folder:FanWorks]]

[[folder:Film — Animated]]

[[folder:Film — Live-Action]]
* ''Film/TheAdventuresOfBuckarooBanzaiAcrossThe8thDimension''. There is apparently one of these on the Oscillation Overthruster (or possibly Penny Priddy), as Buckaroo uses a signal detector to find her inside Yoyodyne.
* ''{{Film/Aliens}}''. Corporal Hicks gives Ripley a wrist mounted tracking device. Ripley later gives it to Newt. Near the end Ripley uses the signal to find where Newt is [[spoiler:only to find it lying on the floor after being torn off accidentally or deliberately by the xenomorphs. Ripley breaks down in tears, but fortunately Newt is still close enough that Ripley hears her when she screams.]]
* In ''Film/TheAndromedaStrain'', (1971) the four scientists (Hall, Dutton, Leavitt and Stone) can be tracked by the first letter of their last name on the electronic diagram, anywhere in the Wildfire complex.
* ''Film/TheArtOfWar'' (2000). Shaw suspects Fang has a tracking device on her clothes and [[FanService makes her take it all off]] and throw the clothes out the window of their car. [[ShamefulStrip Needless to say she is not happy]]. Later Shaw finds a tracking sensor and realises ''he'' is the one who has the tracking device [[spoiler:implanted under his skin by a doctor working in league with TheMole, who 'accidentally' injured him during a basketball game.]]
* ''Film/TheAvengers1998''. Steed gives Mrs. Peel a set of boots with an implanted "micro-tag" (radio homing signal). He later uses it to locate and rescue her.

* ''Film/{{Brannigan}}'' (1975). The police plant a magnetically-attached bug on the vehicle of the mob lawyer used to make the ransom exchange, but he finds it and plants it on another vehicle while stopped in traffic. [[spoiler:However Brannigan has planted a second bug inside one of the bundles of ransom money.]]

* ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises''

** In ''Film/{{Justice League|2017}}'', Bruce Wayne puts a tracking device in Arthur Curry's jacket when they first meet in Iceland, but it becomes pointless because Curry discards it to swim away in the ocean.

** In ''Film/ZackSnydersJusticeLeague'', Silas Stone uses lasers on the Mother Box he used to rebuild his son Victor as Cyborg, and perishes in the process. At first it's thought he sought to destroy it, but in reality he did so to superheat the Box, so the Justice League will be able to track its heat signature via Bruce Wayne's satellites and find Steppenwolf's lair before it's too late.

* ''Film/JamesBond''
** Bond plants one in Auric Goldfinger's Rolls-Royce in ''Film/{{Goldfinger}}''. Felix Leiter later homes in on the smaller one Bond is carrying to locate Bond, who meanwhile has planted the device (along with a message detailing Goldfinger's plan) on a gangster heading for the airport, in the hope that Felix will pick up the gangster for questioning and find the message. Unfortunately instead of going to the airport the gangster is murdered and put into a car compactor, killing the signal.
** ''Film/TheManWithTheGoldenGun''. Mary Goodnight wears a homing device as a button on her clothing. UsefulNotes/{{MI6}} uses it to locate her after Scaramanga kidnaps her. Ironically she's kidnapped while trying to plant a similar device in Scaramanga's trunk, only to [[PunkInTheTrunk end up there herself]].
** ''Film/NeverSayNeverAgain''. Fatima Blush plants one on Bond so her electronically controlled sharks can home in on him.
* ''Film/TheManFromUNCLE2015''

'''Solo:''' ''([[InterruptedIntimacy walking in on them]])'' [[DoubleEntendre All turned on now?]]

* Used to hilarious effect in ''Film/TheNakedGun'', where Nordberg fails to attach the tracking device, rolls down a hill, and ends up underneath Drebin's own car- "we're right on top of him now!"

* ''Film/NoCountryForOldMen'': The protagonist is pursued by various factions after taking a bag of money from the aftermath of a drug deal gone bad; he eventually realizes there was a tracking device in the money and disables it, but by that time the antagonist is already in hot pursuit.

* ''Film/{{Razorback}}''. The eponymous giant razorback is shot with a tracking dart. When a signal is picked up, a posse goes racing off to its location only to find an ordinary boar shot with a similar dart. When the signal goes off a second time to show the giant razorback is close, [[CryingWolf no-one is interested]] as they're busy getting drunk in the pub.
* ''Film/RedDawn1984''. The Soviets capture one of the American guerillas and force him to swallow the tracking device. Unfortunately the ''spetsnaz'' team they have following him gets ambushed, and their homing beacon points directly at the traitor.
* ''Film/{{Runaway}}''. When the police arrest the girlfriend of MadScientist Doctor Luther, they put her in a scanner and [[FanService she has to strip off]] as they find one tracking device after another hidden on her clothes. Later when they're transporting her to a safehouse, Luthor sends autonomous robot vehicles to blow her up, and they turn out to be homing in on the one tracking device that they missed.

* ''Film/StarTrekBeyond''. When our heroes are trying to locate where their crew is being held prisoner, Spock states that he can locate Uhura by scanning for the unique signature of (harmless) radiation emitted by the Vulcan necklace he gave her. Everyone gives him a funny look.

'''Spock:''' ''(OhCrap face)'' [[DidntThinkThisThrough That was not my intention.]]

* ''Film/SwampShark'': The staff of the [[LocalHangout Gator Shed]] planted tracking devices on their captive alligators to keep track of them. Since the shark attacked, and they believe, at the gators, they decide to use the trackers to find it. They track them out into the bayou... [[spoiler:And find the tracking devices in the water. The shark attacks as they're hypothesizing where it might be.]]
* In the Creator/JamesCaan film ''Film/{{Thief}}'', he finds a cigarette pack-sized tracking device behind the bumper of his car. The Chicago police are following what they think is his car driving out of town to a robbery, but they're following a Greyhound bus bound for Des Moines, with the tracker in a package in the cargo hold.
* In ''Film/UnderworldBloodWars'', Gregor shoots David in the gut with a [[ThisIsADrill drilling]] bullet that burrows deeper into his body and is also a tracking device. Fortunately, Selene manages to cut it out of him. Gregor and his team burst into their safehouse only to find them gone and the discarded bullet in a sink.

* ''Literature/AbleTeam'': In ''Rain of Doom'', Able Team discover a plot to attack Washington D.C. with chemical weapon rockets guided in with homing beacons carried by {{Unwitting Pawn}}s. Before they have had a chance to smuggle the beacons and rockets to the United States, Able Team secretly activates one of the beacons in a suitcase carried by the BigBad and [[LaserGuidedKarma launches the rockets on its location]].
* In ''Literature/AxiomsEnd'' by Creator/LindsayEllis, Cora Sabino has a tracker implanted by [[spoiler: the alien being Ampersand]] that allows monitoring of her location and health while she acts as an interpreter.

* Frank Herbert's ''Literature/ChildrenOfDune''. When Alia sends Buer Agarves on a diplomatic mission to Stilgar, she conceals a homing signal in the new boots she gives him so her forces can follow him and capture Stilgar.

* ''Literature/TheGanymedeTakeover'' by Creator/PhilipKDick and Ray Nelson. [[TheQuisling Gus Swenesgard]] is about to be skinned alive (literally) by his alien overlord after he inadvertently let some powerful weaponry fall into the hands of LaResistance. Fortunately he blurts out that he planted a micro-transmitter in the hair of a reporter who was going to interview the rebel leader.
* In ''Literature/{{Komarr}}'', Miles briefly thinks he'll be able to get a lead on the villains when they steal his Auditor's seal, which has a tracking device embedded in it. Unfortunately, they know about the device, and almost immediately flush the seal down the toilet to serve as a particularly messy RedHerring.

* ''Literature/MrsSmithsSpySchoolForGirls'': Bronwyn[[spoiler:, aka, Suzie]] give [[TheProtagonist Abigail]] a tracking device when they first meet. [[spoiler:They also plant another one on her person later on.]]

* In Creator/RobertAHeinlein's ''Literature/TimeEnoughForLove'', Lazarus Long {{Time Travel}}s to meet his family when he was a child. Due to a miscalculation, he winds up in 1917 instead of 1920, just in time for the United States to get into UsefulNotes/WorldWarI. Prior to leaving, he was unknowingly implanted with a tracking device by his family of the future, which comes in really handy when he gets shot in battle and has to be rescued.

* ''LightNovel/RebuildWorld'':

* In [[Manga/CountCain the Cain Saga]], [[spoiler: Cain's earring]] works like this in a steampunky kind of way, being made of a special stone that causes a larger piece of it to resonate whenever in proximity.

* ''LightNovel/FullMetalPanic''. A captured A21 terrorist has the device implanted under his skin, so our heroes use a microwave oven to destroy it (holding down the door safety button so the microwave will work with the door open). Unfortunately he then pickpockets a mobile phone from Kaname, and signals his location that way.
* Early in ''Manga/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaVivid'', after [[spoiler:Hegemon Ingvalt]] walked away in apparent victory, the near-immobile [[spoiler:Nove Nakajima]] contacts [[spoiler:Subaru Nakajima]] and [[TheReveal reveals]] that she planted a sensor on her during their battle, so they can track her down and capture her at any time they want.

* ''LightNovel/IsItWrongToTryToPickUpGirlsInADungeon'': When Sanjouno Haruhime is enslaved by Ishtar, she wears a collar that allows Ishtar and her minions to know where she is at all times.

* ComicBook/BlackWidow's gauntlets can fire tracking devices. They were inspired by Spidey's web-shooters InUniverse.
* ''ComicBook/TheKillersOfKrypton'': As ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'s ship is being repaired on planet Mogo, [[BigBad Empress Gandelo]]'s minion C'Zal hides a tracking device aboard her ship which lets Gandelo track Supergirl through the galaxy.

* ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'':
** ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'': Since Vision signed the Sokovia Accords in ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'', he has had a locator implanted in him. This is a problem when Banner returns to Earth warning of Thanos's arrival, since Vision's powered by the Mind Stone, one of the six Infinity Stones that Thanos needs to wipe out half the universe. It's then revealed that the reason Vision turned off his tracker is so no one knows he's [[DatingCatwoman pursuing a romantic relationship]] with [[Characters/MCUScarletWitch Wanda Maximoff]].
** ''Film/AntManAndTheWasp'':
*** For participating in the airport battle in ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar'', Scott Lang has been placed under house arrest, with an ankle monitor being used to enforce it. To sneak Scott out, Hope sticks the monitor on an enlarged ant that has been "programmed" to go about Scott's daily routine.
*** Hank adds a tracking device to his lab, which works until Ghost deactivates it. Then he get a second one, so a swarm of ants provide directions by forming arrows in the air.

* In the ''Literature/StephaniePlum'' series, Ranger routinely plants tracking devices on Stephanie, her car, etc. In one book, she and Ranger are going through her purse and find three. Only one was Ranger's.
* ''Literature/TheGanymedeTakeover'' by Creator/PhilipKDick and Ray Nelson. [[TheQuisling Gus Swenesgard]] is about to be skinned alive (literally) by his alien overlord after he inadvertently let some powerful weaponry fall into the hands of LaResistance. Fortunately he blurts out that he planted a micro-transmitter in the hair of a reporter who was going to interview the rebel leader.
* Since ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' is from the viewpoint of a '''wizard''' detective, tracking ''devices'' don't feature much. (Usually, Harry will use items to focus his mind for tracking ''spells'', have "dewdrop faeries" follow the target, or even follow behind them himself.[[note]]In one notable subversion, he subcontracted to another Private Investigator. Nobody involved expected ''that''.[[/note]]) However:
** Literature/SmallFavor has Harry realize that a small 'silver oak leaf' on a chain, provided to him by the Summer Court as a token of an owed debt by the Court towards him, is being used by Summer's "hitmen" to figure out where he is.[[note]]And why is Summer gunning for him when it owes a debt? The Winter Court effectively assigned his current case, and the two courts tend to be automatically opposed.[[/note]] [[spoiler:When he figures this out, Harry uses the 'Little Chicago' model to make the leaf think he's appearing wherever it get close to on the model, ties a catnip bag and a rubber band to it... and lets his cat Mister play]]. By the end of the book, Harry has used the obligation up, and the leaf vanishes (or is reclaimed), so whether or not it still can be used for tracking after this is somewhat of a moot point.
** Literature/TurnCoat reveals that Morgan received a similar silver oak leaf, to represent a debt from the Summer Court towards ''him''. He's already claimed the obligation by asking Summer to hide him from magical tracking for roughly three days, so that he can [[spoiler:figure out who killed a fellow White Council wizard and set him up to take the fall]]. Harry realizes that ExactWords might be in play: ''Morgan'' won't be tracked, but the leaf (which is still around, and belongs to the Summer Court anyway) ''can'' be tracked... and the Court can freely tell anyone that thinks to ask the right questions... Cue a {{face palm}} from Morgan for [[ProperlyParanoid not being paranoid enough]].
* In ''Rain of Doom'', Literature/AbleTeam discover a plot to attack Washington D.C. with chemical weapon rockets guided in with homing beacons carried by {{Unwitting Pawn}}s. Before they have had a chance to smuggle the beacons and rockets to the United States, Able Team secretly activates one of the beacons in a suitcase carried by the BigBad and [[LaserGuidedKarma launches the rockets on its location]].
* In ''Literature/AxiomsEnd'' by Creator/LindsayEllis, Cora Sabino has a tracker implanted by [[spoiler: the alien being Ampersand]] that allows monitoring of her location and health while she acts as an interpreter.
* Danielle from ''Literature/SavingMax'' is given an ankle bracelet to keep her within a fifty-mile radius.
* In ''Literature/TheMouseWatch'', the titular heroes give their new recruit Bernie a hair clip that contains one of these. She eventually tricks [[BigBad Dr. Thornpaw]] into putting it in his pocket.

* In addition to their primary purpose as CommLinks, communicators in ''Franchise/StarTrek'' are used as locating devices. Plots frequently demand that they be removed or jammed.

* Used in ''Series/TheCityHunter'': Young-ju bugs the [[VigilanteMan City Hunter]] during their first fight. Yun Sung later bugs the [[spoiler: stolen 2 million dollars]] in [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Kim Jong-shik's]] house.
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'':
** The Initiative shoot Spike with a tracking device which Xander recognizes because it [[IncrediblyObviousBug blinks for no apparent reason]]. Well, maybe that comes in handy when tracking vampires in the dark.
** Willow's oft-used "locator spells."
* In ''Series/{{Healer}}'' most of the tracking devices are very small and well disguised like the ones in Jung Hoo's watch and necklace. The tracking devices he attaches to cars are rather [[IncrediblyObviousBug conspicuous things]] about the size of a nickle with a small blinking red light. This is probably just so that the audience doesn't need it spelled out for them what he's doing every time he uses one.
* ''Series/{{JAG}}'': Used by Clayton Webb in his first dealing with Harm and Mac to track their car in "We The People". However, they're savvy enough to leave it.
* ''{{Series/Extant}}'': All the astronauts have one stuck to the roof of their mouth. It's supposed to be used to gain data on their vitals but it can also track locations.
* ''Series/GinnyAndGeorgia'': Georgia puts a tracker in Austin's watch when he's with his dad, whom she doesn't trust.
* ''Series/OnceUponATime'': Bo Peep, who was a warlord in the Enchanted Forest, "branded" her victims with magic, which allowed her to use her shepherd's crook to track her victims. In Storybrooke, [[spoiler: David used the crook in an attempt to locate [[WesternAnimation/Frozen2013 Anna]]; while he couldn't get a fix on her, the crook did register her heartbeat, indicating that Anna is still alive.]]
* ''Series/PersonOfInterest''
** Team Machine usually does this by hacking the mobile phone of the VictimOfTheWeek and using its GPS locator. Finch is quite proud when he hacks an {{Artificial Limb|s}} into giving away its position to every phone repeater it passes. Finch is ProperlyParanoid about this himself; it's no surprise when he smashes a $2 million watch given to Team Machine by a grateful billionaire to remove its GPS locator.
** Though they still fall victim to them on more than one occasion. Notably Root and the FBI each manage find them at different points. Root with a classical tracking device, and the FBI by a brute force attack on their phone system.
** Root steals an indestructible Kevlar briefcase, but can't break into it to remove the tracking device. She resorts to using a lamp to short it out, but the former owners are already kicking down the door.
* In ''Series/DayBreak2006'', Buchalter and Fencik plant a device under Hopper's car so they won't lose track of him. When Hopper finds out, he sends them on a WildGooseChase.
* ''Series/BetterCallSaul'': Mike realizes he's been bugged after his attempt to snipe Hector Salamanca is interrupted by his car horn going off. It turns out that Gus Fring had managed to get his temporary car and his regular car bugged. Mike manages to turn the tables on Gus by buying an extra tracker, then draining the original tracker so that Gus will send someone to replace it. The guy sent to pick up the tracker instead picks up Mike's active tracker. Mike follows the tracker, eventually ending up at Los Pollos Hermanos. He sends Jimmy inside to spy on the bag man. Unfortunately, Jimmy's attempt at spying is clumsy enough that Gus realizes Mike has caught up to him. So he has Victor take the tracker away from the restaurant, leaving it inside a gas cap in the middle of the road with a ringing cell phone ready for Mike to answer when he locates it.
* ''Series/Batman1966''
** Episode "The Joker's Flying Saucer". When Alfred is forced to help the Joker assemble the flying saucer, he puts several Bat tracking signals inside the saucer so Batman can learn its location after it lands.
** "Batman Stands Pat". The Mad Hatter is kidnapping members of the jury that convicted him and stealing their hats. Batman has Alfred plant a Bat Homing Transmitter in the hat of the last juror so he can trace the Mad Hatter's location when he steals the hat.
** "The Penguin Declines". The female villain Venus deserts the Joker and falls in love with Batman. However, the Joker anticipated that she would do so and planted a tacking signal in her shoe. He later uses the signal to find Venus's location and send the Penguin (?!) to seduce her.
* ''Series/BlakesSeven''.
** In "Traitor", the Federation release a prisoner so he'll make contact with the rebel unit that sent him to infiltrate their base. He's unknowingly swallowed a tracer, and they launch missiles on his position when the signal shows he hasn't moved for a while, assuming that's the rebel base. Turns out he was just waiting at a rendezvous point, and the rebels were waiting for the cover of night before going to collect him.
** In "City at the Edge of the World", [[DirtyCoward Vila]] is bullied into going on a solo mission, and is told to swallow a tracer. But Vila resents his colleagues' actions so much he palms it instead. When he later goes missing...
--->'''Avon:''' Orac, can you give me a precise fix on that tracer?
--->'''[[MasterComputer Orac]]:''' Of course I can!
--->'''Avon:''' Where is it then?
--->'''Orac:''' Under the box which is ten centimetres from your right hand.
** In "Shadow", a radioactive element is added to the titular drug Shadow, so the local organised crime boss can track all the addicts. No-one cares if the addicts get cancer because they inevitably die from the drug.
* In the ''Series/MiamiVice'' episode "Tale of the Goat," Tubbs attaches a tracking device to the underside of a truck he's riding in. It falls off, and when Crockett tries to follow him, he finds the device lying in the road.
* ''Series/AlteredCarbon''. Detective Kristin Ortega is illegally using Hawkeye software to keep tabs on Takeshi Kovacs. Turns out in the pilot episode she slipped a bug under the [=AddBlocker=] she put on Kovacs' neck to prevent him being overwhelmed by the AdvertOverloadedFuture. When Kovacs is captured and taken to a torture clinic (which is shielded against transmissions), his captors search him and remove the bug, which they see as evidence that Kovacs is an undercover police officer (he's not). After escaping, Kovacs leaves the bug in the clenched fist of a headless corpse, [[FlippingTheBird middle finger raised]], for Ortega to find.
* ''Series/BlackMirror''. In "Metalhead", the KillerRobot [[RobotDog Dogs]] shoot shrapnel bombs; not to kill their prey, but rather to tag them with hard-to-remove tracking devices, the better to hunt them down with. [[spoiler:The protagonist is able to remove the tracker and disable the Dog that's been chasing her throughout the episode, but its last act is to fire a bomb to tag her once more. Realising there's no escape, she kills herself rather than suffer the same ordeal again.]]
* Tracking fobs play an important role in ''Series/TheMandalorian'', used by {{Bounty Hunter}}s (including the title character) to track their targets. Each one is capable of homing on a target with great accuracy as long as they've been programmed with enough data, called the "chain code," and returning the fob is the customary way of saying the hunter has released his bounty to someone else's custody.
* ''Franchise/StarTrek'':
** The commbadges that Starfleeters wear starting in ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' double as trackers.
** In ''Series/StarTrekPicard'', Commodore Oh gives Jurati a tracking device which she's actually required to chew before swallowing, causing it to dissolve into her body. When she realises a hostile spacecraft is using it to track them, [[StressVomit her first urge is to vomit]] (she was also PostStressOvereating at the time). This has no effect, so she injects herself with a lethal neurotoxin to neutralize the tracking agent. Fortunately her colleagues are able to revive her.
* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1985'': In "Profile in Silver", time travelers such as Professor Joseph Fitzgerald and Dr. Kate Wang are issued with homing devices in the form of a ring. When the homing device is separated from the temporal wrist controls worn by the time traveler, the wearer of the ring is automatically returned to their point of departure. Fitzgerald uses this to send UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy [[TimeTravelEscape forward in time to 2172 so that he doesn't have to be assassinated]].
* ''Series/{{Intergalactic}}'': All of the prisoners have them implanted in their bodies, and they're painfully removed on Pau Rosa when they put down there so Commonworld authorities can't find them.
* ''Series/Titans2018''
** Dick Grayson tells Donna Troy to track Kory Anders, so she throws a shuriken with a tracker into the back of her car as it drives off, which sends a signal to an app on her mobile.
--->'''Donna:''' You think you're the only one with gadgets?
** When Hank Hall goes to meet Jason Todd after he's turned rogue, the latter forces Hank to strip to prove he's not wired, then makes him swim naked across a filthy pool in an abandoned gym. Hank is not happy about it one bit.
* ''Series/TheProfessionals''. In "Servant Of Two Masters", Cowley has fallen under suspicion of corruption and Bodie and Doyle are ordered to investigate. At one point they are leaning on Cowley's car as he briefs them for their next assignment, causing them to stumble when he abruptly drives off. Bodie then smirks that he got his own back by using the opportunity to plant a 'bleeper' on the car. Cowley however switches cars as a routine precaution, forcing Bodie to follow him the old-fashioned way. The same trick is used in "The Acorn Syndrome", and Bodie barely has time to attach a bleeper to the second vehicle as it drives off.
* ''Series/BreakingBad'':
** As part of his off-the-books investigation into Gus, Hank enlists Walt's help to plant a tracking device on Gus's car. Walt manages to tip off Gus, who then only uses the vehicle to drive between home and the restaurant.
** Walt later finds a tracking device on his own car.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Shadowrun}}'' has the AOD (Activate On Demand) tracking signal. It only transmits when it receives a specific coded signal, which means it cannot be detected by standard radio detection techniques except when it is actually transmitting.
* ''TabletopGame/VictorianaRPG'' supplement ''Faulkner's Millinery and Miscellanea''. One possible Complication (drawback) for a magical clockwork limb is a tracer device implanted in it, which allows someone to know where you are at all times.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Champions}}'' Organization Book 2 ''PRIMUS and DEMON''. The included adventure notes that PRIMUS (an anti-villain U.S. Government agency) puts a transponder inside all captured supervillain devices to assist in tracking them down if they go missing.

* ''[[TabletopGame/BattlelordsOfTheTwentyThirdCentury Battlelords of the 23rd Century]]'' supplement ''Lock-N-Load: The Battlelord's War Manual''. The Electronic Tracer Device has an adhesive strip that allows it to be secured to an object, such as a vehicle. It broadcasts a low frequency radio signal for up to 120 hours that can be detected up to 7 kilometers away.

* Franziska plants one of these on her incompetent detective partner Gumshoe in ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney: Justice for All'', much to Gumshoe's displeasure.
* In ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'', after you acquire [[spoiler:the Reaper IFF chip]], it installs a virus into the Normandy's computer that broadcasts its current location. Which results in the kidnapping of all of your crew except Joker. [[spoiler:Kinda makes the Paragon choice in the endgame (to destroy the Collector Base rather than reverse-engineer it) seem the right one: if a mere chip made by the Reapers could outsmart the best AI humans could produce, what would an entire base do?]]
** ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' has Miranda [[spoiler: plant a tracer on Kai Leng on Sanctuary, leading Shepard directly to Cerberus's main base]]. The spoiler for ''2'' is also revealed to be [[spoiler: fairly irrelevant. Even if blown up, enough of the base remains that Cerberus undertakes major salvage operations and some degree of indoctrination and so on happens anyway]].

* In ''VideoGame/SecretAgentBarbie'', {{Franchise/Barbie}} has a gadget which is basically tracking ''perfume''.

* [[http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/comic.php?current=1460 This]] strip of ''Webcomic/IrregularWebcomic''.
* In ''Webcomic/RankAmateur'', GELF are officially required to wear these. They were generally fitted to GELF even ''before'' it became law.

* Also played for laughs in ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'', where the "tracking device" turns out to be GIR clinging to the back of Dib's [[RunningGag enormous head]].
* 1973-74 ''WesternAnimation/SuperFriends'' episode "The Planet Splitter". The Super Friends put microdot homing devices on the remaining 100+ carat diamonds so they can be tracked down after they're stolen. At the end of the episode, Wendy puts Wonder Dog on a diet, them puts a microdot homing device on one of his favorite steak bones so they can track it when he steals it.
* Also in ''WesternAnimation/SwatKats''. Hard Drive and Dark Kat stole the Turbo Kat and used it to commit crimes and frame the heroes. They demanded several bags of money. Commander Feral hid a tracking device in one of them. The bad guys throw away a bag (presumably the one with the tracking device) and, using a device to impersonate T-Bone's voice, said "Nice try, Feral!"

* ''WesternAnimation/TheLoudHouse'': In "The Spies Who Loved Me", Carl plants a tracking device (which his dad apparently sawed onto his jacket) on Ronnie Anne’s backpack so they can keep an eye on her without her knowing. However, the device falls out of it when Ronnie Anne takes her skateboard out of her backpack, and gets stuck to a rat.

* ''LightNovel/AiNoKusabi'' has "[[SexSlave Pet]] Rings" which all have built-in tracers to track a pet's whereabouts. One pet in particular finds this out the hard way.

-->'''Donna:''' You think you're the only one with gadgets?

* ''Series/Titans2018''. Dick Grayson tells Donna Troy to track Kory Anders, so she throws a shuriken with a tracker into the back of her car as it drives off, which sends a signal to an app on her mobile.

'''Kuryakin:''' [[ShesGotLegs Trying not to get lost.]]\\

* ''Series/BlackMirror''. In "Metalhead", the KillerRobot dogs shoot shrapnel bombs, not to kill their prey, but rather to tag them with hard-to-remove tracking devices, the better to hunt them down with. [[spoiler:The protagonist is able to disable the dog that's been chasing her throughout the episode, but its last act is to fire a bomb to tag her again. Realising there's no escape, she kills herself rather than suffer the same ordeal again.]]

* ''Film/MissionImpossible1996'': During the op that starts the film one of Ethan's team members tags the man they intend to steal from later in the night with a tracker that allows them to keep track of where he is in the building even when he's off camera.
* ''Film/MissionImpossibleGhostProtocol'' has the target being given papers impregnated with a unique radiation signature (in case he's smart enough to throw away everything else, they can still track him). The only problem is that Ethan Hunt needs to keep the target in visual range, which is nicely ironic when he ends up chasing the target through a zero-visibility dust storm in Dubai. Ethan uses the tracking device to manoeuvre his car into the path of the oncoming vehicle, leaping out moments before [[CarFu the cars crash into each other]].
* ''Film/MissionImpossibleFallout''
** The IMF team are forced to break RogueAgent Solomon Lane from his prison convoy. He's been implanted with a TrackingChip that they first block, then remove and place on a drone copter which is then flown off elsewhere. [[spoiler:Turns out they simultaneously planted their own TrackingChip in Solomon Lane, so they can reacquire him if he escapes, which he does.]]
** Ethan Hunt is running across London after the villain who is wearing a TrackingDevice with Benji guiding him. Unfortunately Ethan has to run up onto the roof of St Paul's Cathedral to escape some people chasing ''him'', but Benji doesn't realise this because his map isn't set on 3D. HilarityEnsues as Benji gives directions that don't match with reality.

* ''Anime/Eden'': It appears all robots have a tracking device as standard equipment. And they know it's there, because A37 and E92 intentionally break off their transmitter antennas so they can't be found or followed when they take Sara to a place where they suspect she can be raised safely.

* ''Series/TheProfessionals''. In "Servant Of Two Masters", Cowley has fallen under suspicion of corruption and Bodie and Doyle are ordered to investigate. At one point they are leaning on Cowley's car as he briefs them for their next assignment, causing them to stumble when he abruptly drives off. Bodie then smirks that he got his own back by using the opportunity to plant a tracker on the car. Cowley however switches cars as a routine precaution, forcing Bodie to follow him the old-fashioned way.

* ''Series/PersonOfInterest''. Team Machine usually does this by hacking the mobile phone of the VictimOfTheWeek and using its GPS locator. Finch is quite proud when he hacks an {{Artificial Limb|s}} into giving away its position to every phone repeater it passes. Finch is ProperlyParanoid about this himself; it's no surprise when he smashes a 2 million dollar watch given to Team Machine by a grateful billionaire to remove its GPS locator.