A technique and apparatus to provide status tracking of presence and / or location of a mobile, 
wireless device to a requesting entity even outside of a particular 
wireless system. This allows 
wireless service providers the ability to monitor and log changes in the status of mobile stations within and / or outside their networks. Embodiments are disclosed wherein presence and / or location information is provided to entities outside of a particular servicing 
wireless network using the mechanisms of call 
processing components of a mobile network (e.g., 
call setup procedures), and using standard mechanisms currently available to any appropriately conforming Mobile Switching Center (MSC) element. In one disclosed embodiment, a wireless chat 
tracking system is implemented which utilizes a change in mobile 
registration status to automatically notify a chat 
group system outside the 
wireless network of current status information activity regarding a relevant device, e.g., registration activity or inactivity 
timeout. In the wireless chat automatic status 
tracking system, a registration notification (REGNOT) message is either explicitly forwarded or copied to an external IP based application (e.g., to a mobile chat 
group system). The change in mobile registration is communicated via a suitable signaling link (e.g., SS7, TCP / IP, etc.) between a Home Location Register (HLR) and the chat 
group system. Therefore, instead of a conventionally 
closed system using SS7 messages, REGNOT messages are pushed out over TCP / IP connections to external applications (e.g., chat servers) to automatically notify the external 
system of the location of a particular user.