Can anyone recommend a GPS tracking app?

[SJane48S]

Just that really & preferably free! DD is Year 7 and doing a 50 minute bus journey in but has to take 3 trains back (v short journeys) twice a week on after school club evenings. One of the other schools in the area has sent out a warning about a child being approached on their way home & I want to just get something on her phone as a precaution. I’ve downloaded HollieGuard on both our phones - no problem setting it up on mine but a complete bastard on hers and I’ve given up on it!

Try google family link- v easy

We use Life360. Not had many problems with it. Apart from one dead zone near our house which announce DH is 'driving in England'. You can still see where he is on the map though.

If you both have iPhones you could just use Find Friends (it's a pre installed app). My family use it and we can all see where each other are.

Moochie?

Cheers all, will take a look. I have an I-phone but DD has a Huawei

I use Life360 too. Works well across platforms

Also use Life360. I only have the free version and DS has a crappy cheap android, I have an iPhone and it works perfectly on both.

We just use Google maps and use the "location sharing" function.

You can share for a short period of time, I think you can tap to say 1 hour or until you turn it off. You do get regular emails reminding you that you are sharing your location so it can't be put on your phone without you knowing and it shows who you are sharing with when you go into location sharing.

It worked well for school trips when they are too busy chatting to tell you they will be arriving 45 minutes early.

Our whole family share permanently now, Ds1 is in sixth form and I pick him up but not from outside the building but a distance away due to its location, he can see me driving and knows when I'll arrive.

Plus most people have google maps on their phones as a handy thing to have anyway.

I’m not sure DD would be organised enough to keep turning the share location on Google on and off! I’ve downloaded Life360 on our phones which after yesterday’s swearsthon trying to get HollieGuard was a complete breeze. Thanks all, much appreciated!

Swearathon not swearsthon - honestly, my attention to detail is shocking 🙂

I like how you can custom Life360 with photos, frequent places & get alerts when they arrive / leave (I don't work for them, honest).

Also, Life360 tells me when my hopelessly disorganised child is about to run out of battery on their phone which is quite useful (he's currently on 18% so it's just as well he's in his bedroom ).

Life360 is fab. DS1 hates me knowing where he is most the time but as he has a habit of losing his phone, it's great at helping him to find it. I often get calls from him on a random number (his mates phone) asking where he is, when he actually means his phone. It always makes me chuckle....

I set it up so that I get a notification sound when any family member get home. The dogs now recognise the sound and run to the front door barking in anticipation of someone coming in. Very Pavlovian!

Ok, so first morning of Life360 and according to the app, DD is stuck in a village 5 minutes down the road and has been for the last hour. Either she’s done something to the app or it’s not working very well!

SJane It could be something to do with her mobile data settings. If you turn mobile data off/aren't on WIFI it won't update your location. It is usually very reliable if there's mobile signal around!

That sounds feasible - will check and thanks!

Yes my teenager usually puts their phone on airplane mode before they get to school in case they forget when they get there.

I'm not worried because I know school will call me if he doesn't turn up. If your DD is anything like mine, her phone will go on the moment she's out the gate at the end of the day!

It does!

Life360 too

Life 360 definitely

You can set the google sharing to be permanent so no need to remember to turn it on. Data will need to be on of course

Life 360 is fantastic I would highly recommend it.

Life360 users - I have downloaded this onto family phones. Works for me and DH but not DD (she has an iPhone SE).

Have allowed location sharing in the app, but still saying she has been at home since 22nd Dec (which she hasn't!). Does anyone have any ideas on how to get it working? TIA

She may need to change the location services on her phone (not just Life 360 app). Follow these steps..

How to turn Location Services on or off for specific apps
Go to Settings > Privacy > Location Services.
Make sure that Location Services is on.
Scroll down to find the app.
Tap the app and select an option: Never: Prevents access to Location Services information.

Thanks @MidLifeCrisis007

I think I had already done that - trying to post a pic!