The present disclosure is directed to providing smart signaling of location updates. A method includes receiving a first location update from a tracking device; determining a remaining time for the tracking device to reach a destination location; determining whether the remaining time is within a threshold time of a timing of an arrival alert to be sent to a device associated with the destination location; based on whether the remaining time is within the threshold time or not, configuring the tracking device to send location updates to a server in one of a continuous reporting mode or a significant reporting mode, wherein the tracking device is configured to send the location updates to the server less frequently in the significant reporting mode compared to the continuous reporting mode; and determining when to send the arrival alert based on the location updates received from the tracking device.