Today I discovered that I have friends and family who set their phones so that their kids/family other friends can know their location at any time.

I asked my wife if she was aware of this and she said that she’d love if we did it too but she said she knew better than to ask. I told her that her assessment was correct.

Is this really a thing? I can’t imagine a scenario where I would do that.

Not for me. Never had a beeper and never carried a cellphone. I do have a flip phone someplace but I seldom use it, only have it for road trips and gunshows.

As I’ve watched people age around me, the more I want important people to be able to find me in case of emergency. I’ve used it to find one of the kids after a vehicle breakdown.

And also, to be able to find their shit when they leave it somewhere.

We have Life 360 installed on all three of our phones. It’s so we can know where we are. Teen at school, me at home. Mrs. Mike at work.

Tomminator was in marching band this year and it’s nice to be notified or look when he leaves an event so I can go collect him. It shows speed of his phone over ground which is nice.

He’s about to get his license and it’ll be a nice way of keeping track of him not driving like an idiot. (He doesn’t know it yet but if it goes down he loses the ride and dad will return to chauffeur status)

Also notifies me when Mrs. Mike leaves work, so I know that she’s 20 min away and I can start dinner.

A few years ago my company wanted to put a tracker on my car. I was doing outside sales. I told them to pound sand if they didn't trust me after 20 years.

No tracker was put on my car...

I have my wife and my phones set to share with each other and no one else.

All sorts of reasons it may be a good idea for us. She has misplaced her phone more than once or gotten lost when I am not with her.

We don’t share the info with anyone else though.

Yep, use the built in iPhone "Find My" app, almost daily.

Only Simi helpful due to poor reception inside, but it can be helpful when we get separated in Walmart

Checked in on my wifes location once when she was on a multi day long trip with the kids. Found her an hour or more off course due to a wrong turn. I was able to find the best corrective route on the map and guide her back on track from my easy chair.

Also she will occasionally loose her phone... A Quick Look of the app will show she left it out on the patio or back at home, or it slipped down between the car seat or etc etc.

We are an iPhone family and I have it for my kids as a standard iPhone feature each phone has to agree to it. Wife has life 360 and can even tell how fast the 16 year old is driving.

They know if they disable location finder they are then stuck at home. It’s not perfect. It only tells you where the phone is not necessarily the child.

I found out about it years ago. Was at McDonald’s having lunch when I worked in SF and wife texts me and asks how’s the McD?! I was like umm stalker much ?

if you don't use it only you are missing out, whoever manufactures your phone, as well as your service provider collect that information and in fact sell it.

Wife and I track each other on Find My app. Wife tracks her 87 year old mother who now lives by herself for the time being.

My younger daughter and wife track each other, and they track my older daughter during long trips.

I have nothing to hide, and I also would like to track my phone if we part ways somehow.

I'm 88 and my wife is a youthful 80. Never can tell when one of us will need help, so we have "find me" enabled, but only for each other.

I use it almost daily. My husband, child, parents and sib are on mine.
You can stop sharing at any time, and start again whenever you want.
My sib lives in another state with no family close, my folks are elderly. Husband travels back and forth for work. Rationale for the kid is obvious, I hope. Of course, the kid often forgets his phone at home, so..
I even had a family friend on for a while. I showed him how it worked (he’d never used it), I was traveling a lot, and he got a hoot out of seeing me show up at various places in the world.

I’ve got nothing to hide (I don’t think so, anyway) and as noted, it’s not like the companies making the devices/apps aren’t tracking already.
My dad was the only one who balked. Too independent, too private. We finally got him to accept it this last year. Still trying to get him an Apple Watch for the “fall” feature. Mom got hers a month or so ago.

We do! We have for years. I can know where my kids are, and be reassured. My wife can know where I'm at when I'm on the way home from work to know when to start dinner. I can text my wife if I see she's passing by the grocery store and I think of something we need. I can tell if my brother is at my Dad's house, or if he didn't make it today/stuck at work, I can check in on dad.

The simple fact is, it's convenient and helpful. It's encrypted data bits being shared amongst secured Apple IDs of those I love and trust. You select who you want to share with, and they with you.

To those with privacy concerns -- I hope it's only a concern that your family will know where you are, and vice versa. Because if you're worried that tech companies might know where you are, I've got bad news for you.

We also share locations with each other. I guess I don’t see the downside.

The life 360 turns the car icon into a race car if you drive above 80mph.

Figure everybody else is using it.

Case in point:

I was at a swim meet talking to a parent of another swimmer on the team. The team had gone to Olive Garden the night before and the father mentions that my son drove his daughter home from OG. I tell him my son isn’t supposed be driving other kids around without asking, but that he’s a good kid and a careful driver. Then he tells me he has his daughter on the Life 360 and proceeds to tell me my son drove the speed limit the entire trip and took his daughter directly home.

I don’t use it much, I trust my kids, but it was kind of fun tracking my daughter on her trip to Chicago and texting her when she was near somewhere I knew about.

My daughter and son in law are not the most aware, so I use that feature from Apple when they travel to and from our house. My wife likes to know I’m ok when hunting so I use another means (Motorola Defy).

We use it for our daughter (single) as there are too many creeps in the world. Not really a fan but makes the wife feel better - and daughter supports it.

My wife and I share our locations. It could be useful in an emergency. More importantly, why wouldn't I want her to know where I am?

We have Life 360. I like the drive rating they do, safe or risky. My daughter is a JR in college and she removed herself her Freshman year until she went to her 1st Frat party. She turned it back on and it’s remained on by her choice.
I have had to call her a few times and ask her to slow down though. I’m guessing the speed they show is pretty accurate.

I'm dumb as to how do this on a non I-phone but since I have had a couple of heart attacks I can see the possibility that it could be a good thing.