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Help Personal safety app for sharing location: Android & iOS

Paddy Landau

Well-Known Member
Apr 1, 2013
105
20
United Kingdom
Sometimes, one of my children won't be in the safest area. If I go to pick them up, I like them to be able to see where I am so that they know when to expect me, and to stay safe in the meantime. Conversely, if they're using their own transport, e.g. cycling, I like them to keep me updated where they are from when they start travelling to when they reach home, so that if something goes wrong, I can be aware of it as soon as possible.

Google used to make a personal safety app like this, for both Android and iOS. It was respectful of privacy — it shared only when the sharer explicitly asked it to (preventing stalking), the sharer could turn it off manually at any time, and it had an automatic 24-hour time out anyway. But it didn't work well, and it's been discontinued.

I see that Google now has a Personal Safety app to do the same thing, but it's available only on Pixel phones. So, while I can use it, my children can't.

I have been looking for a suitable app. There's the bSafe app, but you can't even test it without paying a rather expensive fee on every phone where it's used; the costs quickly add up. (It has a host of features that we don't need.) I'm not going to pay a lot of money for something before I've even had a chance to test it.

I know that this can be subjective, but I would like some ideas for a good app to use, please. What the app needs is:
  • One person can share their current location (automatically updated using GPS) to a chosen second person.
  • Sharing doesn't start unless manually initiated by the sharer.
  • Sharing can be manually turned off at any time, and preferably also has an automatic timeout.
  • It needs to work on both Android and iOS.
  • The price needs to be reasonable (I'm not flush with money).
Thank you!
 
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I used life360 for both my daughters it worked well, untill they started dating & switched it off lol, I think it was £45 for a Yr & it has its own msg service witch is free to use, not shire abought any other app though as it was the only one I have used.

P. S they were devistated when a showed them the history of where they had been it come up once the re enable the app again ha ha ha
 
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I used life360 for both my daughters it worked well, untill they started dating & switched it off…
Thank you for this suggestion. I'll check it out.

I don't intend to have it on all the time. I think that that would be intrusive and disrespectful of my children. I would ask them to turn it on only while travelling through unsafe areas or during unsafe times.
 
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I can't speak for all trackers, just the one I used once u are subscribed your tracked 24 hrs a day u can't just turn it off, (unless u uninstall the app)
Personally I don't think knowing your kids location 24hrs a day is a bad thing.
The unexpected can happen at any time they might not have a chance to switch it on.
 
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… trackers are 24 hrs a day kind of deal once u install or subscribe…
I suppose that some are, but they are far from the only type. As mentioned in the OP, the one that I used only started when manually requested, and had an automatic time out of 24 hours. Google's new Pixel-only Personal Safety also works on an opt-in rather than an opt-out basis.
 
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