This may not always be considered an advantage. Location tracking is a dubious feature. This may be the best service when you need to know where your child is. We all agree that it annoys us when our loved ones travel. Calls and text messages are now available too, but that doesn’t help when someone or in a meeting is driving hours away from home. For the sole purpose of helping, we’ve put together a few apps that allow you to share AND see the location of your family and friends if they choose to participate. In this section, we have explained the best tracking apps for family and everything about it.
Best Tracking Apps for Family
1. Glimpse
Glympse gives you real-time information about where your family members are. With Glympse, you can quickly find detailed GPS location information for other family members.
To use this, just open the Glympse app on your phone, click “New Glympse”; You can then send a text message or an email to someone. When you do this, you can get information about the network or GPS location where the person is located. This provides you with real-time detailed information about where someone was and at a particular moment.
While there are many apps that offer real-time location sharing (like WhatsApp and Google Maps), what sets Glympse apart from the rest is that you don’t have to install anything on someone else’s mobile device. All you need is a web browser to access the link you share via SMS or email.
Positive:
- You don’t need to install anything on another person’s mobile device.
- It has an optional low power mode that only updates your location if someone is currently watching
- Set up a way to view information in the program for a certain period
Minuses:
- Doesn’t offer real-time tracking
- You must manually update the site
Price: Free ( Android | iOS )
2. Life360
Life360 is a great choice if you want to be aware of the safety of your family members. Available on both platforms, Life360 allows people to sign in with each other while online. The registration function ensures that people can be informed when they reach certain destinations or when they reach certain places. This works with schemes that you can program to include details on where specific clients should use.
What makes Life360 different from Glympse is that you are automatically notified when someone leaves or arrives at a certain location. This means you don’t have to constantly monitor its real-time location in the app.
Pro Tip: We found Life360 to be a battery drain insane, and one way to fix this is to set it to every hour instead of the default 15 minutes.
Positive:
- Easily download driving directions and route information
- Allows people to communicate without using text messages from a mobile account
- You can share information about faces in the circle you save
Minuses:
- You need to send invitations to all the devices you want to track.
- It has mixed reviews on battery usage, but your mileage may vary.
Price: Free, $5/month for paid version ( Android | iOS )
Read Also: 5 Best Fake GPS Location Apps for Android
3. Quadrangular Swarm
Foursquare Swarm gives you a handy layout where you can keep track of where your kids are going. It works like a platform similar to what you would get from virtual social networks. When you sign up somewhere, it leaves a badge showing where you are. Your family members can do this when they get to different points from their destination.
The app has a statistical reporting system that gives you data on the places people visit the most. You can use this to track the behavior of other people in your family. The app also lists location type data.
Positive:
- Tracks GPS and network information based on registration points
- Works with most types of popular websites
Minuses:
- Uses a large battery
- Works best for people familiar with Foursquare Swarm
Price: Free ( Android | iOS )
4. Sygic Family Locator
This app works a little differently than the other best tracking apps for family. Sygic Family Locator is more focused on where your family members are with GPS enabled devices. To use Sygic, you can enable GPS signals on any of their devices. After that, it will store information about the devices that are associated with these GPS signals.
This provides you with regular updates on the websites. The app also tells you when they can find out certain restrictions. This allows you to set and customize a map of the exact places your kids should avoid visiting. This gives you quick alerts when someone moves a child to an unwanted location.
Positive:
- Provides a complete history of locations where someone has been during the day
- The built-in map makes it easy to identify safe and unsafe areas.
- Allows you to track multiple people at the same time
Minuses:
- Only works when the target devices have enough battery power.
- Update may not be as fast in real time
Price: Free, $15 premium ( Android | iOS )
5. Reliable contacts
Trusted Contacts is a Google app for checking the location of your family and friends in real time. The principle of operation is pretty standard. After installing the app, you need to select contacts you trust to know your location. Your friends will then receive an email letting them know that they are now your trusted contact.
Like most of the family tracking apps on this list, you can turn on the tracking feature and send a message to your friends so they can see where you are. But what sets your trusted contacts apart from the rest is the automatic location sharing if the recipient doesn’t respond within a set time. For example, when someone added a trusted contact. They can check your current location. You have the option to accept or decline the site’s request. However, if they do not respond within 5 minutes, the contact will be able to reach the last possible location.
Positive:
- Also show the good condition of your smartphone battery.
- As with Glympse, your trusted contacts won’t need to install any app or even a Google account on their phones. They can track your location through your browser.
Minuses:
- To use the app, both parties must enable Google Location History.
Price: Free ( Android | iOS )
Read About: 8 amazing apps to find someone’s location
6. Google Maps
Did it surprise you? That’s the way it should be. Google Maps has a great and unique location sharing feature. The feature is available on all platforms and even on the web.
On the main screen of the Google Maps app, tap the Menu button (three horizontal bars). Click the Location Sharing tab and you will see a pop-up window. Click the Get Started pop-up to select the contact you want to add to your list. Your selected contacts will immediately start receiving information about your location. To see the location of any contact, you must request access, after which the contacts will approve your request.
Location sharing can range from 3 hours to 3 days, or you can choose to share a location indefinitely until it’s turned off. The service will allow you to see more information about the contacts in your list only from the site. You will be able to see the exact address and will be able to navigate through the “Routes” tab. If there is a lot of clutter on the map, you can hide some contacts that can be added later. A shortcut for everyone can also be set on the home screen of your Android device.
Positive:
- It’s already available on most phones
- Displays battery percentage for added devices, useful for kids
Minuses:
- No notification service for the arrival and departure of contacts
- Drain battery
Price: Free ( Android | iOS )
7. Find my friends (iOS)
Not to be confused with Find My iPhone; Find My Friends is only available in the Apple Walled Garden. So, if your friends and family have an iPhone or iPad, Find My Friends can be one of the best family tracking apps for you. The app can be found on all iOS devices and even on the Apple Watch. Although there is no support for macOS, this feature can be accessed online via iCloud. However, remember that since iCloud is not supported on most browsers, Safari is your only option.
To get started, simply open the Find My Friends app and click the Add button in the top right corner. Select the contacts you want to share the location with. Alternatively, you can enter someone’s Apple ID to submit a request. Once a contact turns on location sharing on their side, they can see it on the map.
Positive:
- original application
- Notification Features
Minuses:
- Limited to Apple devices
Price: Free ( iOS )
Packaging: Best Tracking Apps for Family
Both of these apps are worth a try: Locate your family members. Be sure to find out how these options can work to get you the best family finder app for you. By the way, I personally prefer to follow the privacy policy, especially since this is a location tracking app for family. Also, make sure you don’t abuse such tracking apps for family by using them to harass someone or be the owner of a family member in public. All of the above and done will help you pinpoint where your family is, and the comfort that comes with this service is invaluable.
More to Read: How to Turn Off Location Tracking on Your Android
