I grew up without cell phones, what amazes me is how everyone around me is on them all the time. I don't understand what they could possibly be doing. I have one, leave it turned off, check messages every few days.
I guess it would be good to know where your kids are all the time, but wonder why it would be necessary.
Seemed to get by just fine before them. Used to use road maps, pay phones for traveling. Times have changed so much, not sure if it's for the better.

My wife an I don't utilize the location sharing. We come across many folks that do, and thought it weird for a while. It really wouldn't bother me (or her) though. I suppose I still don't think it's particularly necessary, and it would hinder my ability on three occasions through the year to get her flowers as a surprise, so I am in no rush to utilize it. I wouldn't think less of anyone for using it. Anyone who vehemently opposes it would perhaps justify a degree of suspicion. I do sympathize with being resistant to the technology hyper-integration though, as rizzle mentions.

We have cameras at home and at work, and my wife will often text me about something, when she sees I am in a particular place. I joke about her being "big brother" or the "nanny state", and find it mildly annoying, but it's not any sort of real issue. I do need to be aware of where I pee outdoors, because she's not the only person who gets those camera alerts.

I am an incredibly private person and my priorities are keeping my family connected and safe. My location is shared between all my Apple devices which include my adult children still on my plan. We don’t use this as a means of spying or lack the trust among each other to feel we need to check up on each other. It’s not like the whole world can see our locations, it’s just between me, my wife and kids.

I reluctantly turned it on but only for my wife to see. I have a medical condition where my wife having a better idea of my location than somewhere within a three mile radius could be very helpful in the unlikely event I go non responsive.

We've had this turned on for years - mostly to track the kids, but also because my daughter and wife regularly misplace their phones and I can quickly see where they are with it.

quote:

Originally posted by PR64:
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...

That sounds asinine. It’s not even about trust. They want to know where you go in their car? They just have to look at the money you’re bringing in.

I ride a motorcycle in remote areas of the Yoop and Jeep them too. I want someone to find me if I crash or get stuck. Drawback can be poor accuracy in areas with sketchy cell reception. When my kid lived in NOLA, I wanted to know exactly where he was!

quote:

Originally posted by YooperSigs:
I ride a motorcycle in remote areas of the Yoop and Jeep them too. I want someone to find me if I crash or get stuck. Drawback can be poor accuracy in areas with sketchy cell reception. When my kid lived in NOLA, I wanted to know exactly where he was!

I have a Garmin In Reach for back country excursions. Usually motorcycling, but also bicycle or hiking. The wife can ping my location at any time, and it sends a position update every hour iirc. Even on regular road trips it is handy for her to watch my progress and for me to mark the coordinates of good camping spots.

Plus it uses satellites for emergency rescue if I ever need it.

It even allows text messaging.

quote:

Originally posted by sig2392:
1. There is no privacy.

All the phone manufacturers sell your data.

All cell companies sell your data.

Most car companies sell your data.

Having my wife know where I am is the least of my privacy concerns.

The only way to escape it is not to have a cell phone and not drive a car made since the 1980s

No. This isn’t correct. Repeated often and seldom correct.

My MY2019 truck has no wireless connectivity whatsoever. It didn’t even come with a touch screen head unit. I bought a car in 2023 and yes data sharing, updates, etc, come with it but I shut it all off and disabled it all before I drove off the lot with it. Yes, you can opt out, thankfully. No ET phoning home capability. As far as I’m aware it isn’t mandatory, something you opt in or opt out. Unfortunately far too many opt in and think they need to be “connected” at all times. To me the internet isn’t more important than real life, but I think I’m in the minority on that opinion.

Smartphone, there are settings for sharing data. You can go through and disable just about all of it in the OS. Takes 5-10 minutes and a YT video to walk you through it all. So the capability is there for people to disable most all of it. I had to replace a TV recently, old one burned up at 5.5 years unfortunately. Its replacement got to the “network settings” step in the setup procedure. I pressed skip, and it’s never been on the internet and never will be. They don’t put a gun to your head and force you to do it. What’s really odd is you can’t even buy a non-smart TV at your regular retailers. But you sure as shit can never put it on the internet. Use a fire stick or whatever it’s called or an ATV. These devices run better than native tv os apps anyway.

I have degrees in technology and have worked in the field since the late 90’s. I continue to marvel at reading this. Yes, there is privacy. You do have to put in some work to protect your privacy these days. I can’t do anything about my work required smart phone working with the carrier’s HLR for tracking. But that is how cellular technology works even before smart phones existed. I used to work on HLR’s and for a major wireless carrier and had to deal with the Feds coming in with their document to track drug dealers, etc. They’ve had the ability to track cellular for decades. Most local drives I leave the phone at home. I’m not like most Americans married to the thing. Our society worked just fine before these phones and you could definitely make a case that it was a better way of life and society to not have everyone staring down at 6” pieces of glass all day, swiping their fingers on the same piece of glass. Kids got into trouble, people needed help, etc. The suburbs, major city, or your town, is not backpacking in Mongolia. I see these phones as more of an addiction than a requirement.

Hell no!!! If I'm telling the wife I'm running to the store, I don't want her to know I'm at the nudie bar with Al Bundy!!!!

Wife and I use "Find" on our Samsung phones.

Once found her headed the wrong way through Illinois. (Who would have I55 and 155 intersecting?) Got them turned before they ended up in Peoria.

I do not have GPS enabled or any of the find me apps. I'm single, so not really anybody to share it with anyway. Saves battery life on my phone too.

quote:

Saves battery life on my phone too

That is a good point right there. I am in "eco mode" almost 100% of the time, to prolong battery life. Eco mode would disable something like location sharing.

I don't use Android phones because I do believe Google sells all your information and you are the product, not the customer.

Apple's business model is based on protecting, not selling, customer data. They have not done anything that would cause me to question that.

My wife knows how to use "Find My". In fact, she just holds up her watch and says "Find my iPhone".

I wish all our kids had iPhones, but daughter and son-in-law don't. We'd like to have my sister on our Find My app as she lives alone hundreds of miles from us; and our younger son, but he's pretty paranoid about such things.

I'm glad to see that the great majority of responses so far have been in favor of "tracking" close relatives for whom we have concerns.

Oh, and if I had had several heart attacks I would run--well, figuratively speaking--to get an iPhone and Apple Watch. The watch in particular will ask if you need help if you have a hard fall. I know it works, I've declined help after a fall. It's potentially a life-saver.

I bought my wife an Apple Watch after her first, and so far only, episode of atrial fibrillation. We're using it to keep her OFF Eliquis--as good a medication as it is--because there is still risk of bleeding into the head, which must be weighed against the risk of stroke from AF. A trial is ongoing testing the use of the Apple Watch to see if outcomes are better than routine use of Eliquis.

quote:

Originally posted by Powers77:

quote:

Originally posted by mark123:
We also share locations with each other. I guess I don’t see the downside.

Use it with an elderly parent. Use it with large groups in say a resort to be able to find each other.
The downside I do see is that "Siri" or similar could also share the information with an unauthorized entity.

Not sharing your location with family members via Apple's service or a similar app does not take the GPS out of your phone. Utilizing the GPS tech for your purposes doesn't increase the risk of all of the other apps on your phone, or your cell carrier, or your ISP, from using that data.

quote:

Originally posted by sjtill:
Apple's business model is based on protecting, not selling, customer data. They have not done anything that would cause me to question that.

Yup.

Several members have asserted "Apple does <this> and Apple does <that>" with user's data. No, they do not. Unlike Certain Others I could mention: Apple's ToS and privacy statements are both readable and unequivocal: They do not share or sell your data. Period.

Apple and its products have their flaws, and no mistake, but this isn't one of them.

quote:

Originally posted by ensigmatic:

quote:

Originally posted by sjtill:
Apple's business model is based on protecting, not selling, customer data. They have not done anything that would cause me to question that.

Yup.

Several members have asserted "Apple does <this> and Apple does <that>" with user's data. No, they do not. Unlike Certain Others I could mention: Apple's ToS and privacy statements are both readable and unequivocal: They do not share or sell your data. Period.

Apple and its products have their flaws, and no mistake, but this isn't one of them.

Hey come on, we need to keep the boogeyman mantra going Don’t be putting your facts in here!

My mom and I both have the iPhone “Find My” turned on so we can see where either of us are at anytime.

Because my mom is elderly, frail, and has cancer, she carries her phone on her at all times. We text multiple times a day every single day and always say good morning and goodnight. If she was to not respond, I want to see where her phone is.

When I have to travel to far parts of Texas for work, she likes to see where I am and I like the idea that someone can know where I am, my phone at least, if I am not responding. All travel I do is driving and usually very long days coming home late.

I also installed cameras on her house so I can be notified of any movement and see who is coming and going. She also has access to cameras on my house.

I had to get life360 so I can see where my kids are. My daughter and I have iPhones so we share our location with no issues but my son has an android so I got the life360 app (the free one).

It's just helpful to know if they break down and they can't give an exact location, I can try to find them via the app. My daughter was with her boyfriend the one time in nowheresville and got two flats from a pothole, so I was able to get to them easily with their location.

I also like being able to see speeds when my daughter is on the freeway. She likes to speed. She has called me out sometimes in the middle of the night when she sees me speeding, but I'm usually chasing someone. lol

I never have used it. I could see using it as we age maybe.

My buddy uses it with people on a 350 acre deer lease they are on.

It lets them know who is around or on the lease. It works pretty good for that. He could turn it off if he desired.