Methods and systems provide an active chip configured for connection to the battery or other component of a host mobile communication device, such as a cellular phone, to thereby add functionality to the host mobile communication device. The system may be installed and used for covert operations (i.e. military and/or law enforcement), adding features such as location tracking and voice recognition and recording to monitor the movement and use of the host mobile device covertly. The system may be used to communicate with other locally enabled systems on a local network instead of communicating through the cellular network, or operate as a radio transceiver or “push-to-talk” device such as a “walkie-talkie.” It may be used as a “kid tracker” location tracking device, to find a lost host mobile device, lost person carrying the host mobile device, or track locations where a host mobile device has been.