Techniques are discussed herein for enabling an external client to request periodic or triggered location of a user equipment (UE) according to trigger criteria that are not visible to entities within a wireless network, using a codeword in a periodic and triggered location request that is sent to the UE. The codeword may be meaningful to the UE, but not to the wireless network, and may indicate particular types of triggered and/or periodic events to be detected and reported by the UE. A location report sent by the UE to the wireless network may contain a second codeword, indicating a type of triggered or periodic event detected by the UE, which may be conveyed by the wireless network to the external client without interpretation. Codewords may enable more flexibility for periodic and triggered location without impacting wireless networks.