App to track location of family members...

[Planogirl]

Ick. No thanks (and I have nothing to hide).

 

[Kies99]

As a father of 2 young girls, this thread is great! I do plan on putting something in my cars when they drive but never thought to do their phones. My oldest has a phone and my youngest gets her's in August so I am definitely putting something like this on theirs. Not that I'm worried about them doing something, but something happening to them or their leaving the phone somewhere.

 

[sk!mom]

Find My Friends

 

[Arielle22]

We use find my friends. We don't track with it but it is installed in case one of the phones or tablets is lost.

My company has it on all their IPhones. The employee is told when they receive the phone that the app is on the phone and must remain on and active.

 

[sk!mom]

Ick. No thanks (and I have nothing to hide).

Nothing to hide here either and not spying on anyone.

With a teen, it's more of a safety and peace of mind for me. It serves the same purpose on the phone of my dad who has Alzheimer's. At this point 98% of his days are good and he is capable of going out alone but it gives peace of mind to know that if a good day ever turns into a bad one when he's out, having the app on the phone in his pocket could help us locate him. My sister and brother in law like it because he bikes everywhere. Again just a safety feature.

 

[Planogirl]

Nothing to hide here either and not spying on anyone.

With a teen, it's more of a safety and peace of mind for me. It serves the same purpose on the phone of my dad who has Alzheimer's. At this point 98% of his days are good and he is capable of going out alone but it gives peace of mind to know that if a good day ever turns into a bad one when he's out, having the app on the phone in his pocket could help us locate him. My sister and brother in law like it because he bikes everywhere. Again just a safety feature.

I could see this use...I think. I'm still uneasy about it but I can understand it.

 

[Fintastic]

I'm kind of surprised at everybody's reactions! We don't use a locator app but I like the idea of them, especially for teenagers. When/if we ever get my DD a phone we'll be installing a locator app on it.

 

[pryncess527]

We have iPhones, but the app DH and I use is Find My Friends - I'm sure there's an equivalent for Android.

I'm always surprised at the visceral reaction that my friends (and some of the PP) have when I tell them DH can track my phone. They seem to think it's some sort of invasion of privacy, but honestly it's a huge convenience for us. I use it mostly to figure out when he's getting home from work so we're not waiting around and letting dinner get cold, and it saves me from making a phone call and him talking on the phone while driving (I don't like to do that even with Bluetooth). Last weekend when I was out at a coworker's 40th birthday party I felt like I didn't have to call to tell him I'd be home late because I knew he could figure out where I was if he wanted to. And when he travels for work I can tell if he's in a factory working (where he can't call me) or if he's available to take a call.

And honestly, neither of us sneak around so I can't think of any reason that we wouldn't want the other one to know where we are. I do ask him not to track me sometimes at Christmas when I'm going somewhere to buy him a present (the bike shop, especially), but that's about it.

Ditto. IMO, the only "ick" factor would exist if this were done in secret. It's not. We are both fully aware and perfectly okay with the fact that we can know where the other one is. My H is dropping by my work to visit me this afternoon and just a few minutes ago I wondered if he'd left the house yet. So I opened up the app, saw his little dot moving closer to me and got excited. It doesn't feel like stalking (to me) when it's your chosen life partner.

 

[JanaDee]

Ditto. IMO, the only "ick" factor would exist if this were done in secret. It's not. We are both fully aware and perfectly okay with the fact that we can know where the other one is. My H is dropping by my work to visit me this afternoon and just a few minutes ago I wondered if he'd left the house yet. So I opened up the app, saw his little dot moving closer to me and got excited. It doesn't feel like stalking (to me) when it's your chosen life partner.

We send each other a text when we are on our way to meet each other. It takes 5 seconds.

If he texts me "leaving", I know he will be home in 40 mins.

If I text him "leaving grocery store" or wherever I happen to be, he knows when I'll be home.

My kids text me "leaving" from wherever they are.

To me, it is stalking and I won't do it to my spouse or my kids.

 

[pryncess527]

We send each other a text when we are on our way to meet each other. It takes 5 seconds.

If he texts me "leaving", I know he will be home in 40 mins.

If I text him "leaving grocery store" or wherever I happen to be, he knows when I'll be home.

My kids text me "leaving" from wherever they are.

To me, it is stalking and I won't do it to my spouse or my kids.

Okay, don't.

 

[bdoyledimou]

We send each other a text when we are on our way to meet each other. It takes 5 seconds.

If he texts me "leaving", I know he will be home in 40 mins.

If I text him "leaving grocery store" or wherever I happen to be, he knows when I'll be home.

My kids text me "leaving" from wherever they are.

To me, it is stalking and I won't do it to my spouse or my kids.

and what happens at 80 minutes when he has not arrived? and what happens when your kids say "I am at Sam's house" and then Sam's mom calls you to confirm Sam is at YOUR house.

I have all the phones tracked because

1) all 6 of us have lost our phones.
2) We are a blended busy family with 2 homes -- the kids move freely between the two homes -- its piece of mind to be able to check the phone and make sure they are safe.

It is not "stalking" if it is done openly and transparently.

 

[descovy]

Count me in. It's not icky for us.

We use find my iphone because all our devices are on the same iTunes account. We did that originally since that's how we knew to share music & apps and it stuck all these years later.

It's been very handy... How far away is dh from home (dinner) my teens are in several activities where they are car pooled and come home at an undetermined hour (driven 2 hrs away for a game for example). It's handy to know how far away and approximately when to expect them.

And let's not forget the ordinary "I can't find my phone... Did I leave it at school? At home?... Sometimes a quick check can reassure that a phone isn't truly missing.

I guess I'm not curious enough to track their every move. And I certainly don't find it stalkerish... Just a handy tool.

 

[JanaDee]

and what happens at 80 minutes when he has not arrived? and what happens when your kids say "I am at Sam's house" and then Sam's mom calls you to confirm Sam is at YOUR house.

If that would ever happen, I would call him.

I don't call and check up on my kids and neither do any of their friends parents. If I didn't trust them, they wouldn't be going out to begin with.

 

[EMode]

and what happens at 80 minutes when he has not arrived? and what happens when your kids say "I am at Sam's house" and then Sam's mom calls you to confirm Sam is at YOUR house.

They get in big trouble when they get home

I have all the phones tracked because

1) all 6 of us have lost our phones.
2) We are a blended busy family with 2 homes -- the kids move freely between the two homes -- its piece of mind to be able to check the phone and make sure they are safe.

It is not "stalking" if it is done openly and transparently.

Someone knowing you are tracking them doesn't make it any less stalkerish.

 

[Cirlonde]

Yep, I'm definitely a fan of being able to track my spouse's phone and him being able to track mine! I had to make a 9 hour drive by myself to a conference for work and that's when we first looked into it. I was terrified that I'd have an accident in the middle of nowhere and either be knocked unconscious or killed and lie there for hours in a ditch before someone found me!! With that much distance to cover, it would have been difficult for him to locate me quickly if I didn't arrive at my destination on time. With Find my iPhone and Life360, he could have told an emergency crew right where to look for me.

I definitely wouldn't want someone tracking me without my knowledge, but like others have said...neither my husband nor I have anything to hide. It definitely brings great peace of mind for both of us! My parents also use it and recently my dad went on a trip riding ATVs in the Colorado mountains. It made my mom feel much better about the trip because she could have tracked him down if he'd had an accident or something up in the mountains miles away from civilization!

 

[Mommee]

Life360. They had an update a while back that fixed the freezing issue. You can't "close" the app, though, or it won't work.

I don't think There's anything creepy about it. In fact, it saved my son once after a date. The father accused him of not being where he was supposed to be with her, and he was able to pull up his history and show him exactly where they were and when.

 

[cepmom]

I use FInd My Iphone from time to time to check on my kids locations, I personally don't care if people think its "stalkerish", If I want to confirm my kids whereabouts, I'm going to look at it. I have teens and I'm not totally stupid enough to think they are always 100% honest with me...they know I do it and I have actually caught one lying about where she was thanks to find My iPhone.

 

[Buckalew11]

I would like this just because DH and I both run and he rides Mtn bikes. But I am sure there'd be no service in the Smokies where he runs. I would like him to be able to find me if something happened. Of course, I tend to be a worrier.

I'd love to have it on DD's phone while she is out of state. I'd sleep better at night knowing she was "in."