7 Best Family Locator Apps for iPhone and Android 

Family tracking apps offer a wide range of benefits beyond just location tracking. These apps provide features like app and document monitoring, geofencing, emergency assistance, location history analytics, and privacy protection, which are all crucial for keeping families safe both online and in real life. In case of emergencies, they enable quick alerts to family members with just a single tap. Moreover, they proactively shield children from online threats. Considering these advantages, it’s imperative for parents to consider using family tracking apps. Now, let’s explore the top seven family tracking apps for both iPhone and Android.

How Location Tracking Apps Work

Location tracking apps utilize GPS technology to pinpoint a user’s location anywhere on the earth. Here’s a simple breakdown of how they work:

1. GPS Technology: These apps use GPS signals from satellites to determine a user’s location. While GPS works best outdoors, it can still provide an approximate location indoors.
2. Data Collection: Once the GPS data is collected, it’s forwarded to a server. This data includes vital information like date, time, and speed in real-time.
3. Transmitting the Data: The server collects and stores data from various devices. Apps use this data to show real-time locations on the user’s device.
4. User Access: Users can access the location data through the app’s interface and view it on their device.
5. Privacy Settings: Most tracking apps offer privacy settings, allowing users to enable or disable location tracking as needed.

Family tracking apps, specifically, rely on mobile GPS services to track a user’s device. Once installed, these apps constantly use phone location services to track the device. The shared map within these apps links all family members, enabling them to check each other’s locations easily. Additionally, family tracking apps offer parental control options beyond location tracking, ensuring the safety of children online. However, it’s essential to maintain a stable network connection for these apps to function properly.

 How To Choose The Best Locator App for Your Family

Choosing the best parental control app for your family depends on the age of your children and your specific needs. Here’s a simple guide to help you choose:

1. Consider Your Child’s Age: For children under 12, prioritize blocking objectionable websites. Look for apps compatible with Amazon’s Fire tablets. For teenagers, focus on monitoring online activity, including messaging apps and location tracking.
2. Essential Features: Look for apps that offer website filtering, location tracking, screen-time limits, and app blocking, especially for Android devices. These features help you control and monitor your child’s online activities effectively.
3. Additional Features: Consider extra features like geofencing, which alerts you when your child leaves a designated safe area. Some apps also allow call and text message monitoring, although this may require additional steps and may not be available on all devices.
4. Ease of Use: Choose a parental control app with a user-friendly interface that allows you to monitor your child’s phone easily from both a computer and your smartphone.
5. Legal Considerations: Keep in mind that listening in on calls is illegal, so choose an app that prioritizes privacy and legal compliance.

By considering these factors, you can choose the best parental control app to keep your family safe and monitor your child’s online activities effectively.

Key Features:

• At-A-Glance Tracking: Allows users to decide who can see their GPS location and set the duration of tracking.
• Manual Control: Users can stop sharing their location at any time or extend the tracking duration.
• Sharing Options: Share real-time locations, estimated arrival times, and travel speeds via email, text, or social networks.
• Calendar Integration: Integrates with calendars to share location and ETA automatically with contacts.

Pros:

• Real-Time Location Tracking: Provides instant information on family members’ whereabouts.
• Ease of Use: Simple setup and operation; no app installation required on the recipient’s device.
• No Sign-Up Required: Users can start sharing their location without the need for sign-up or registration.

Cons:

• Limited Functionality: Primarily focused on location tracking without additional features like monitoring or spyware.
• Alerts to Target: Targets receive notifications when their location is being tracked, limiting stealth.

Why Choose Glympse:

• End-to-End Encryption: Ensures secure transmission of location data.
• Smartwatch Support: Compatible with smartwatches for added convenience.
• ETA Estimator: Provides estimated time of arrival to shared locations.

Overall, Glympse offers a straightforward solution for real-time location sharing without the need for complex setup or app installations. While it lacks advanced monitoring features, its simplicity and convenience make it a preferred choice for keeping track of loved ones’ whereabouts.

FamiSafe

FamiSafe is a comprehensive parental control app designed to help parents monitor and manage their children’s online activities effectively. Here’s an overview:

Key Features:

• Screen Time Management: Control and limit the time your kids spend on their devices.
• App Blocking: Selectively block inappropriate apps to ensure a safe online environment.
• Web Content Filter: Filter out inappropriate content and websites.
• Location Tracking: Keep track of your child’s whereabouts in real-time.
• Activity Reports: Receive detailed reports on your child’s device usage and online activities.
• Remote Management: Control and manage devices remotely from the FamiSafe dashboard.

Pros:

• Driving Alerts: Get alerts for driving behaviors like speeding and hard braking.
• Location Sharing: Share real-time locations with kids for added safety.
• Various Subscription Options: Offers different subscription plans to suit your needs.
• Limits Excessive Smartphone Use: Helps curb excessive smartphone usage among children.

Cons:

• No Stealth Mode: Cannot track devices covertly; requires user permission.
• Limited Trial: The free trial period is short but enough to test out features.

Key Specs:

• GPS Location Tracking: Yes
• Driver Report: Yes
• SOS Functionality: Yes
• Supported Platforms: Android 4.4 -10, iOS 9–iOS 15
• Pricing: Plans start at $10.99 per month, with discounts on yearly and quarterly plans.
• Free Trial/Refund Policy: Offers a 3-day free trial period with a 7-day money-back guarantee.

FamiSafe is an excellent choice for parents seeking to monitor their children’s online activities and driving habits. With features like real-time location tracking, driving alerts, and screen time management, it offers comprehensive parental control functionalities. While lacking stealth mode, it provides various subscription options and a user-friendly interface for easy management. Overall, FamiSafe is a reliable solution for ensuring children’s safety and responsible device usage.

Find My Kids

Find My Kids is a dedicated family tracking app designed to help parents keep tabs on their children’s whereabouts. Here’s an overview, along with user reviews:

Key Features:

• Real-Time Location Tracking: Track your child’s location in real-time using GPS technology.
• Geofencing Alerts: Set up safe zones and receive notifications when your child enters or leaves these areas.
• Emergency Panic Buttons: Allows your child to send SOS alerts in case of emergencies.
• Battery Level Tracking: Monitor the battery level of your child’s device for added peace of mind.
• Built-in Chat Feature: Communicate directly with your child through the app.

Pros:

• Free Trial Available: Test out the app’s features with a free trial period.
• Compatible with GPS Watches: Works seamlessly with GPS watches for enhanced tracking capabilities.

Cons:

• Separate App Installation Required: Requires installing a separate application on the child’s phone for full functionality.
• Limited Features in Free Trial: Some features may be limited during the free trial period.

User Reviews:

• Andrea from Play Store: “I’ve used this app for over a year so far. It seems to be a lil slow, loading the location takes forever, I’m assuming its lack of service sometimes.”
• MamaBear27938 from App Store: “I am able to see where my children are at at all times. If they leave where they are currently at, it notifies me that they are on the move and shows me where they are within yards.”

Find My Kids offers essential family tracking features, including real-time location tracking, geofencing, and SOS alerts. While it may lack advanced parental control features, it provides accurate location information and ensures children’s safety. With a simple user interface and compatibility with GPS watches, it’s a reliable option for parents looking to keep track of their children’s whereabouts.

Google Family Link

Google Family Link is a comprehensive family tracker GPS application by Google that offers free parental control features. Here’s an overview:

Key Features:

• Device Supervision: Monitor and supervise your child’s devices remotely.
• Real-Time Location Tracking: Track your child’s location on Google Maps in real-time.
• App Usage Monitoring: Keep track of how much time your child spends on specific apps.
• App Blocking: Block or approve unsafe mobile applications your child attempts to download.
• Screen Time Management: Set limits on internet and app usage on your child’s devices.

Pros:

• Web Browser Compatibility: Works from a web browser after a quick setup process.
• Comprehensive Parental Control Tools: Offers a range of parental control features, including screen time limits.
• Free Version Available: Both the iPhone and Android versions of the app are available for free.

Cons:

• Limited Features Compared to Other Apps: It doesn’t offer as many features as some other family tracking apps.
• Requires Google Account: Each family member needs a Google account for the app to function.

Compatibility:

• Android: Compatible with Android phones 5.0 and above.
• iOS: Requires iOS 11.0 or later for iPhone users.

Rating:

• 8.0/10: Google Family Link provides essential family tracking and parental control features, helping create positive digital habits and ensuring family members’ safety.

Bottom Line: Google Family Link is a reliable and easy-to-use family locator app with built-in parental control features. While it may lack some advanced options like geofencing, it offers effective screen time management and real-time location tracking. With a free version available on both iPhone and Android, it’s a convenient solution for families looking to stay connected and maintain digital wellness.

Verizon’s Family Locator

Verizon’s Family Locator is a reliable family tracking app designed for parents who want to keep tabs on their kids’ whereabouts and mobile usage. Here’s an overview:

Features:

• Location Tracking: Keep track of your family members’ locations in real-time using their mobile devices.
• Usage Monitoring: Monitor your child’s mobile usage, including calls, texts, and battery usage.
• App Blocking: Block or unblock social media, gaming apps, messaging apps, and websites as needed.
• Data Limits: Set data limits to promote positive device usage habits.
• Geofencing: Create virtual boundaries and receive alerts when your family members enter or leave these areas.
• Location History: Store location history for each family member for up to seven days.

Pros:

• Easy Installation: Simple setup process for installing the family tracking app.
• Location History: Store location history for each family member for up to seven days.
• Virtual Map: Allows you to familiarize yourself with known locations using the virtual map feature.
• Friendly Customer Support: Offers helpful customer support for any issues or questions.

Cons:

• Subscription Requirement: A monthly subscription after the free trial period is required, with no free version available.
• Limited Compatibility: Only compatible within the Verizon network, limiting its use to Verizon customers.
• Not Support Tablet: Doesn’t support tablet devices.
• Premium Features: Some features, like location tracking and alerts, are only available for premium users.

Verizon’s Family Locator is a convenient and effective solution for parents looking to track their family members’ locations and mobile usage. With features like real-time tracking, usage monitoring, and app blocking, it helps parents create a safe and healthy digital environment for their children. While it requires a monthly subscription and is limited to Verizon customers, it offers reliable performance and helpful customer support.

mSpy

mSpy is a comprehensive family tracking app designed to help parents monitor their children’s devices remotely. Here’s an overview of its features, pros, and cons:

Features:

• Text Message Monitoring: View incoming and outgoing text messages, including deleted messages and photos.
• Social Media Monitoring: Advanced monitoring features for popular social media platforms.
• Location Tracking: Track a person’s real-time location using GPS and set up geofences for alerts.
• Battery Monitoring: Receive notifications if the battery is low on your child’s device.
• Customer Support: Toll-free helpline and live demo support available.
• Compatibility: Works with Android 4.0 and above, iOS 7+, and Windows 7, 8, 10, and 11.

Pros:

• Comprehensive Monitoring: Allows parents to track various activities on their child’s device, ensuring their safety.
• Deleted Message Recovery: Ability to view deleted messages and photos, providing insight into your child’s online interactions.
• Instant Notifications: Receive immediate alerts when certain blocked words are used on the target device.
• Easy Installation: Simple setup process and user-friendly interface.
• Money-Back Guarantee: Offers a 14-day money-back guarantee for customer satisfaction.

Cons:

• Cost: Considered relatively expensive compared to other family tracking apps.
• Battery Drain: May drain the battery of older devices, affecting device performance.
• Technical Issues: Some users may experience technical difficulties and require assistance from customer support.
• Privacy Concerns: Potential risks of unauthorized data leakages and misuse of features for dishonest purposes.

mSpy is a reputable family tracking app that has been trusted by parents worldwide since 2011. With its comprehensive monitoring features and reliable performance, it helps parents ensure their children’s safety and responsible device usage. While it may come at a higher cost and pose potential privacy concerns, its effectiveness in monitoring calls, messages, social media, and location makes it a valuable parental control solution.

Conclusion