How Spotlert works
Spotlert helps drivers find and share open street parking on a public map, gives blocks and buildings their own private parking groups, and helps your household keep track of the car you share. The three are kept deliberately separate.
Public parking
Open street parking shared by drivers nearby. No group needed.
Open the map
Spotlert opens on a public map of open street parking near you, shared by other drivers. You don’t need to join a group to use it.
Share an open spot
Pulling out, or passing an empty space? Put the pin on the curb and share it. Sharing needs a verified email, and Spotlert checks your location to make sure you’re nearby.
Keep it accurate
Drivers near a spot can tap Still open, I got this spot, or No longer available, so the map shows what’s really there.
Reports fade on their own
A new report shows as open for a short while, then as “Possibly still open”, then disappears automatically. Nothing stays on the map for long.
You choose your name
Your reports show your public name — first name and last initial unless you change it — or “Spotlert driver” if you’d rather stay anonymous.
Private parking groups
An invite-only map for a block, building or community.
Create or join a group
A private group is an invite-only map for a block, a building, or any community that wants its own. Start one, join with an invite code, or ask to join a group that can be found by name. Groups are optional — the public map works without one.
Stay inside the group
Only approved members see a group’s spots, and they never appear on the public map. A group admin draws the group’s parking area on the map, and every group report stays inside it.
Share a spot with the group
See an opening on your block? Tap Report open spot on the group map and put the pin on the curb. Spotlert checks the pin is on a street inside the group’s area, and members can get a notification about the new opening.
Keep group spots current
Members tap Confirm open or Mark taken, and can change how many spaces are left. A couple of minutes away? Ask the reporter to hold it — holds exist only in private groups, and they’re always a voluntary favor.
Admins keep the group organized
Admins approve join requests, give members roles, remove or block someone who misuses the group, and choose settings like approval, whether the group can be found, and whether open reports expire. The owner can hand the group to another admin.
Your household’s shared vehicle
Private to the people you share a car with.
Create a household
A household is the small circle of people who share a car. It is never searchable: members join with a code shared by an admin or a private invitation sent to their email.
Add your shared vehicle
Give the car a name everyone recognizes. Make, model, color, and plate are optional labels to tell one shared vehicle from another.
Save where you parked
Tap Park Here and confirm the pin. Add a descriptive address or a short note like "Level 3, near the elevator" if it helps. Both are optional.
Everyone can find it
Any household member can see where the car is and get directions to it — so nobody has to text "where did you leave it?" again. It never appears on the public map or in a group.
Say when you take it
Tap I’m Taking It when you drive off. The saved location clears and the household knows who has the car.
Also in Spotlert
Private groups
Invite-only maps for a block or building. Group spots stay inside the group and never appear on the public map. Asking a neighbor to hold a spot is a group-only favor.
Your household’s vehicles
Save where your shared car is parked so your household can find it. Only your household sees it — never the public map or a group.
Vehicle reminders
A household can also keep a short shared list of what the car needs — an oil change, an inspection, a registration renewal — due by date, by mileage, or whichever comes first. Anyone in the household can mark one done, and everyone sees that it was handled. Mileage is typed in by hand; Spotlert never reads your odometer. It is a shared checklist, not a maintenance record.
How the three stay separate
- Public spots are for everyone signed in nearby. They show your public name (or “Spotlert driver”), fade on their own, and can’t be held.
- Group spots stay in the group. Only approved members see them, they never appear on the public map, and only group members can ask for a hold.
- Your parked car is not on the public map or any group map. Other drivers and group members cannot see your household’s vehicles, locations, notes, mileage, or reminders. Only current members of that household can.
- Household vehicles are not limited to a block. You can save where you parked anywhere — another neighborhood, a garage, another city.
- Spotlert does not track your car or you. There is no background following of vehicles or people. A location is recorded only when someone deliberately taps Park Here, and it is cleared when someone takes the vehicle.
Ready to find a spot?
Get the app to see open spots near you and share the ones you leave.
Create an account