About nolilab
We make GPS tracking that works where phones don't.
nolilab is a small hardware company in Tallinn, Estonia. We design and build the Loko GPS Tracker: a 14 g tracker that sends its position over LoRa radio straight to a receiver you carry, so it keeps working with no SIM card, no cell coverage, no internet and no subscription.
The company was founded in 2022, three years after the first Loko prototype was published on Hackaday.io. We design the electronics, firmware and software ourselves, and we publish the hardware and firmware sources on GitHub.
- Legal name
- Nolilab OÜ
- Registry code
- 16525213 (Estonian Business Register)
- Founded
- 2022, Tallinn, Estonia
- Products
- Loko Air tracker, Loko Ground receiver, Loko app; LokoHUB base station launching soon
- Offices
- Tallinn, Estonia (registered office); Baku Engineering University Technopark, Azerbaijan (development)
Why we built Loko
Loko started with a lost-drone problem. We fitted a cellular GPS tracker to a drone as a backup and found that it stopped working as soon as the drone left town, because most suburban and rural areas had no GSM coverage at all. The radio trackers that did work without a network were hard to use and short on both range and battery life.
“After speaking with other drone owners I decided that GSM-based trackers are useless. I learned that other drone owners were also looking for such a gadget to use, so I decided to build Loko, an extremely small, incredibly light GPS tracker that doesn't require GSM coverage.”
Crowd Supply launch post, 2022
The brief has not changed since. Loko Air reads its position from GPS, GLONASS, Galileo and BeiDou satellites and transmits it by LoRa radio. Loko Ground receives it up to 20+ km away in line of sight and passes it to the Loko app on your phone, which shows it on offline maps. No network sits between the tracker and you.
What we believe
No subscription, ever
You buy the hardware once. There is no SIM card, no data plan and no account that you have to keep paying for.
Your location stays yours
Positions travel from your tracker to your receiver and your phone. They never pass through nolilab servers, because there are none in the loop.
Open by default
Schematics, PCB files and firmware are on GitHub for anyone to inspect and modify for personal use. Commercial use needs our written permission.
Hardware that keeps improving
Firmware updates are free for the life of the device and install from Chrome or Edge, with nothing to download.
How we make Loko
We design every board in-house. During the 2022 chip shortage we redesigned Loko around components that were actually available, and for the first production run we set up our own SMT assembly line and equipment for the plastic cases, so we could control quality ourselves.
Since 2024, Loko has been manufactured with Seeed Studio's Fusion PCBA service and sold through Seeed Studio, Crowd Supply and selected resellers. Our team in Tallinn and Baku still handles the design, firmware, software and support.
How Loko got here
- July 2019The first Loko prototype is published on Hackaday.io and entered in the Hackaday Prize.
- March 2022Hackaday covers the low-power mode that gives Loko its long battery life.
- 2022Nolilab OÜ is registered in Tallinn, Estonia.
- December 2022The Crowd Supply campaign is funded, raising $15,268 from 57 backers.
- 2023The first production run is completed and shipped to backers.
- April 2024Seeed Studio features Loko, now built with its Fusion PCBA service.
- December 2024Loko goes on sale at Seeed Studio.
- May 2025Hackaday features Loko in its 2025 Pet Hacks Contest.
- 2026A GPS-logger mode, the browser-based Loko Config Tool and a one-click firmware updater ship to every Loko owner.
Press and community
Independent coverage of Loko since 2019:
- Hackaday, 2022: Loko's low-power mode.
- Hackaday, 2025: Loko as a LoRa dog tracker in the Pet Hacks Contest.
- Seeed Studio blog, 2024: building Loko with Fusion PCBA.
- Hackster.io: Loko as a tiny open-source LoRa asset tracker.
- Electromaker: Loko as an open-source GPS tracker with LoRaWAN.
- WILDLABS: Loko in the conservation-technology community.
- The Business of LoRaWAN podcast: LoRa, drones and offline tracking.
- Hackaday.io: the Loko project log, kept since 2019.
Some early coverage calls the project “Dronee”, the name of Loko's first Crowd Supply page. It is the same tracker.
About nolilab: FAQ
Who makes the Loko GPS tracker?
Loko is designed by nolilab (Nolilab OÜ), a hardware company in Tallinn, Estonia, founded in 2022. Since 2024 it has been manufactured with Seeed Studio's Fusion PCBA service.
Where is nolilab based?
Our registered office is at K. A. Hermanni tn 2-9, 10115 Tallinn, Estonia (registry code 16525213). We also have a development office at the Technopark of Baku Engineering University in Azerbaijan.
Does nolilab collect my location data?
No. Loko sends positions by LoRa radio from the tracker to your own receiver and phone. There are no nolilab servers or accounts in that path, so we never see where your tracker is.
How can I contact nolilab?
Email [email protected] or use the contact form on our website. We usually reply within 1–2 business days.
Want to see how Loko works, or talk to us about a project?