diff --git a/demos/tooltip/tracking.html b/demos/tooltip/tracking.html
index 033bc9766..ab0237da6 100644
--- a/demos/tooltip/tracking.html
+++ b/demos/tooltip/tracking.html
@@ -19,27 +19,7 @@
 	<script>
 	$(function() {
 		$( ".demo" ).tooltip({
-			position: {
-				my: "left+25 center",
-				at: "center"
-			},
-			open: function( event, ui ) {
-				if ( !( /^mouse/.test( event.originalEvent.type ) ) ) {
-					return;
-				}
-
-				var positionOption = $.extend( {}, $( this ).tooltip( "option", "position" ) );
-				function position( event ) {
-					positionOption.of = event;
-					ui.tooltip.position( positionOption );
-				}
-				$( document ).bind( "mousemove.tooltip-position", position );
-				// trigger once to override element-relative positioning
-				position( event );
-			},
-			close: function() {
-				$( document ).unbind( "mousemove.tooltip-position" );
-			}
+			track: true
 		});
 	});
 	</script>
diff --git a/tests/unit/tooltip/tooltip_common.js b/tests/unit/tooltip/tooltip_common.js
index d12ee9519..6d503aecd 100644
--- a/tests/unit/tooltip/tooltip_common.js
+++ b/tests/unit/tooltip/tooltip_common.js
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ TestHelpers.commonWidgetTests( "tooltip", {
 		},
 		show: true,
 		tooltipClass: null,
+		track: false,
 
 		// callbacks
 		close: null,
diff --git a/ui/jquery.ui.tooltip.js b/ui/jquery.ui.tooltip.js
index c4bdbb0d7..2c80f328c 100644
--- a/ui/jquery.ui.tooltip.js
+++ b/ui/jquery.ui.tooltip.js
@@ -54,6 +54,7 @@ $.widget( "ui.tooltip", {
 		},
 		show: true,
 		tooltipClass: null,
+		track: false,
 
 		// callbacks
 		close: null,
@@ -145,13 +146,14 @@ $.widget( "ui.tooltip", {
 	},
 
 	_open: function( event, target, content ) {
+		var tooltip, positionOption;
 		if ( !content ) {
 			return;
 		}
 
 		// Content can be updated multiple times. If the tooltip already
 		// exists, then just update the content and bail.
-		var tooltip = this._find( target );
+		tooltip = this._find( target );
 		if ( tooltip.length ) {
 			tooltip.find( ".ui-tooltip-content" ).html( content );
 			return;
@@ -175,11 +177,25 @@ $.widget( "ui.tooltip", {
 		tooltip = this._tooltip( target );
 		addDescribedBy( target, tooltip.attr( "id" ) );
 		tooltip.find( ".ui-tooltip-content" ).html( content );
-		tooltip
-			.position( $.extend({
+
+		function position( event ) {
+			positionOption.of = event;
+			tooltip.position( positionOption );
+		}
+		if ( this.options.track && /^mouse/.test( event.originalEvent.type ) ) {
+			positionOption = $.extend( {}, this.options.position );
+			this._on( this.document, {
+				mousemove: position
+			});
+			// trigger once to override element-relative positioning
+			position( event );
+		} else {
+			tooltip.position( $.extend({
 				of: target
-			}, this.options.position ) )
-			.hide();
+			}, this.options.position ) );
+		}
+
+		tooltip.hide();
 
 		this._show( tooltip, this.options.show );
 
@@ -235,6 +251,9 @@ $.widget( "ui.tooltip", {
 		target.removeData( "tooltip-open" );
 		this._off( target, "mouseleave focusout keyup" );
 
+		// TODO use _off
+		this.document.unbind( "mousemove.tooltip" );
+
 		this.closing = true;
 		this._trigger( "close", event, { tooltip: tooltip } );
 		this.closing = false;