lets all share our locations with someone

[cannonballz]

specifically while wondering around in a holiday destination on our own, but generally, really at all times. I go birdwatching, or camping, or running, and my son has my location tracked on my phone. My daughter goes on nights out, and I know where she is. My son goes to festivals, and his father can track him. Basically, all of us can be found by at least one relative, if anything unexpected happens.

Surely, most people carry phones, and surely, this function is one of the major benefits?

DH, DD and I all use the “find my” app.

It gives us peace of mind when DH and I are driving to work, to know we’ve arrived safely, and when DD is out with her friends.

We use it between me, DH and both DC but only check it when absolutely necessary.

It's come in very handy when I've lost my phone and when DC2 was younger and once got lost with a dying phone. They phoned me in a total panic (they're autistic and have bad anxiety related to it) so I was able to check where they were and tell them where to go before their battery died.

DH is a bus driver and it's handy to check whereabouts he is when he's late home from work, he works late shifts so often doesn't finish until 1am, just a couple of weeks ago he had a shocker of a shift and didn't get home until 2.30am when he was meant to be back at midnight. He can't even check his phone, never mind call me or answer a call, when he's working so it helps me to know when to expect him back.

Myself and my dc's have life360 at their request.
It's bloody useful for all sorts of mundane reasons.

What happens when your phone battery runs out? Would other people worry and call the police?

Neither myself or my husband or my sisters and their husbands or my brother and his wife would set off alone on holiday feeling unwell as we care about each other and either spouse or group would accompany us.

That's a better way of keeping safe rather than tracking phone movements.

"Yes, my friend used this facility when her husband fell and knocked himself out trail running - it was literally a life saver. I am not sure exactly how it works, but seems like if it detects a fall then it rings a designated person? Or something similar."

Yes @cannonballz it sends an alert to designated contacts and it sounds a fairly loud alarm. There was a British runner in a training camp in Portugal recently who was only able to escape being raped because her Garmin alarmed when he threw her to the ground really hard and her attacker believed her when she said it was sending the police so he ran off.

No thanks, also my parents are old and I'm well past the age of telling them where I'm going.

Terrington St Clement currently, going to Walpole Highway soon

This isn't North Korea - people are entitled to their privacy.

I share my uber rides if I'm alone or its late but not my general location, I'd find it really invasive if my husband wanted to track me like that

I don't live in fear

Yes, and the "if you've nothing to hide" argument has been used to push all sorts of surveillance.

In some ways we seem to be heading back to the pre-18th century attitudes before people were able to have privacy, when just wanting to be alone was viewed as an aberration.

I share my location with DH, DM, DB and best friend. They all share with me. When best friend’s phone was stolen by a moped in London, she fb me to ask me to track it - another advantage. I use Find friends to know when my mum is home to call her to chat, I also know she stalks me on holiday to check I’m ok / see my hotel. I have nothing to hide and couldn’t care less. DH has never looked at my location lol

I share my location with dh when I am running.

DH and I have each other and tye dc on "find my" .

That's what my abusive ex used to say when he wanted to check my phone every day. No thanks. It's not about having something to hide, it's about me as a grown adult wanting some privacy and being entitled to that.

pointless if phone dies or you are separated from it. I think tracking someone else is beyond creepy. I’d never do it. Poor kids now have no freedom or independence. It’s so invasive and promotes fear and worry.

Nope. I go on nights out by myself, solo bike rides, and multi-day hikes and don't want to be constantly tracked.

I guess I just don't really understand the apparent fear or anxiety some posters seem to have. Checking their DH got to work okay, or is not home at the expected time. If my DH is home late from work I assume work is taking longer than expected or he's stuck in traffic.

I find it odd too.

It also doesn't really help any worries you might have - the phone could be off or out of battery, or have been left in the car or the office.

I thank my lucky stars that this technology wasn't available when I was at university, as my mother would have used it, and phoned to check up on me, and basically continued to smother me. Not a bad mother, just extremely paranoid about certain things.

I don't track my children for this reason... my mothers anxiety does affect my life.

"It’s so common in my circle. Me and about eight girlfriends all share locations, plus me, my mum and sister and nephews."

That's gonna cause problems at some point

I have friends that do this, I find it very odd that they check on each other throughout the day. They will often tell me that someone has just been sitting in their house all day or they have gone to the shops.

when out walking in a remote location sure turn it on but not your day to day life. I am with the poster who said it can be used to breed a lack of trust.

I live alone and a large number of my friendship group are single women so we do tend to keep in touch every few days but would never dream of wanting to track each other’s movements. Maybe a text if one of us has gone away just to ensure they’ve reached their destination safely and if they need any shopping for their return.

I quite often go off camping and walking where there’s practically no mobile phone signal. It would never occur to me to let anyone know where I was yet alone want to be tracked by them.

I would never share my location with anyone.

Its extremely rare to go missing and I’d rather take that chance than be tracked 24/7.

The only exceptions should be if people are hiking in the middle of nowhere on their own, but I don’t do that anyway.

The majority of people who get lost/kidnapped don’t have the use of their phones anyway - get left behind, run out of battery, get thrown away etc.

My freedom is the most important thing to me.
I don’t like people knowing where I am or what I’m doing most of the time.

I’m willing to take the risk and if I end up dead because of it, then I’ll accept it.

Absolutely this!! 👏👏

What a refreshing attitude to have!

I have lost count of how many threads are started by women whose DH’s are slightly late home and the tracking isn’t working.

If always turns out that there was an explanation and nothing to worry about.

It’s the main reason why I have never lived with a partner because this level of micromanaging (control) makes me feel so uncomfortable.

As an adult, I should be able to go where I want and not be tracked or need to be home at a certain time.

I have lost count of how many threads are started by women whose DH’s are slightly late home and the tracking isn’t working.

Or from women whose husbands are on a night out and aren't home bang on the estimated time they agreed to.

However, saying that, I do think a lot of these threads wouldn't exist if people communicated properly. If you're normally home by 6pm and know you're going to be late, then text. If you're stuck in traffic, call. If you're going to another pub or decide to crash on Tom's sofa, then just let someone know.

It's not about tracking or controlling someone's whereabouts, just about not creating a load of unnecessary drama and worry over nothing.