Tracking my teen's phone? Advice?

[SL6827]

Added the Family Tracker onto my Verizon plan for a month for free, after that it is $10 I think. Any other way to track my teens phone without a fee that will work well?

 

[Tigerlulu]

My teens all have iPhones. Our family rule is the find my friends must always stay on. When they become adults and get their own plans, they are welcome to stop but as long as we pay the bill, they follow the rule. This does mean they can track us too. But it’s worked for us with 4 teens now.

 

[tink89]

What do you mean by track. GPS tracking or usage tracking. If you have an iphone you can use screen time and pretty much set how many hours they can use each app

 

[SL6827]

My teens all have iPhones. Our family rule is the find my friends must always stay on. When they become adults and get their own plans, they are welcome to stop but as long as we pay the bill, they follow the rule. This does mean they can track us too. But it’s worked for us with 4 teens now.

Ok, I don't know if that would work for me. I have android, she has an iphone. Would it work?

 

[SL6827]

What do you mean by track. GPS tracking or usage tracking. If you have an iphone you can use screen time and pretty much set how many hours they can use each app

GPS.

 

[tink89]

GPS.

then just use Find my friends.

 

[DLgal]

Use Google maps and do location sharing. Totally free. Just need to have google accounts.

 

[Dream Big Live Grand]

Life 360 is a great app and its free

 

[momma2ethan]

I use Life360 to keep track of my 13yo's movements when he's not with me. They do have a paid membership with additional features, but the free version has been more than sufficient for our needs. I can see his location at any given time, a handful of location history, see his battery percentage, and get notifications when he arrives/leaves a couple different locations.

 

[SL6827]

I will look at life360. Thanks.

 

[Tigerlulu]

Yeah if one is android and one is iPhone then find my friends wouldn’t work. But life 360 is good!

 

[cvjw]

We all have iPhones, so we use find my friends. Before everyone had iPhones, we used life360. It is free, but it did drain my battery like crazy!

 

[mi*vida*loca]

My kids have their iPhones set to share their location with me. It’s been working well for us.

 

[MikeNamez]

If you want to know where they have been without them knowing your tracking do this. (iphone only)

1. Go to Settings -> Privacy -> Location Services.
2. Scroll all the way down and go to "System Services."
3. Go to "Significant Locations" at the bottom.
4. Enter your passcode if prompted, or verify with Touch ID or Face ID.
5. Scroll down and you will see a "History" section that lists places you have been.

 

[mich311e]

My son has an iPhone, I have an Android. We have an app called xFi Locator. I logged into the Apple account and I can track the GPS of his phone. He doesn't have to have an app on his phone, it doesn't drain any batteries.

 

[jesusfreak75]

We use the free version of Live 360.

 

[Lalabubbles]

We use the free Life 360 app also. Our friends use it for their family also and they have a mix of Android and iphone. Once our daughter starts driving we may upgrade to the paid version but we don’t see any reason to now.

 

[MickeyMouseCD524]

If you have an iPhone just use the find my iPhone feature. And make it a rule that they're not allowed to turn it off.

 

[TammyLynn33]

Why not simply ask them where they are ? Where they have been ? It’s never even crossed my mind to do this with my teens.

 

[Narnia_girl]

Life 360 has worked well for our family. Even as our sons became adults and turned off the regular usage, they do me a courtesy and turn it back on when they travel long distances. When our son was driving 600 miles one way to school it was reassuring to know we could find him in case of an accident.
And as my husband and I begin to travel more without the kids it is reassuring that they can find US if needed.