Life360 is the app that kids dread and parents love.  Life360 is a tracking app on your phone that people inside your “Family Circle” can use to see where you or anyone else inside the circle is.  Life360 is newer to some and old to others, and the app can be used by both Android and iPhone users of all ages and styles.  The app is fast and accurate and stays up-to-date at all times.  The app does have other features such as recording speed when driving, keeping time stamps while driving/going anywhere, and it also uses real-time locations and names. In this article, you’ll find information about the app itself and inside information from Life360 users.

How Does The App Work?

In order for someone to track another, both people must own the app.  The app follows your phone’s location around in real-time.  If someone in your family got on the app, they would be able to see where you are in that exact moment.  It does not matter if you have the app open or not, the Life360 always knows where your phone is. The Life 360 website states, “For some peace of mind, you can get real-time location info on each other, seen on a private map, and even opt for automated alerts whenever someone arrives or leaves a destination.” The entire family circle is sent an alert whenever someone leaves or arrives somewhere, and this is used for drivers and walkers.  The app tells the adult what speed you were driving at, the time it took you to get home, who got home, who left/arrived at school, etc.  One more thing is that adults/kids can get real-time directions on how to get to someone specific in their family circle.  The Life360 website states, “One of my favorite (and lesser-known) features is tapping a family member’s avatar to get directions straight to that person.”

What About Driving?

Life360 does follow your car and anyone else who has a car.  The app will keep track of your speed, where you are, how long you were in the car, and how much you were on the phone while in your car.  This works for all people and it will alert your parent of upcoming traffic, hard braking, and rapid acceleration.  The parent is sent alerts of anything that might put the driver in danger and risk of crashing.  One example Let Grow used was, “Husband arrived home. He drove 15 miles at 67 MPH. It took him 7 minutes to get home from work.” It does this for all drivers such as husbands, wives, kids, and (in some situations) grandparents and grandkids.

Do Adults Get Watched As Well?

As you may have read in my last paragraph(s), adults are affected by the app as well.  Wives and husbands can put their spouses on the app as well.  The app uses names instead of titles meaning it would say “Mary” or “Mom” instead of “wife” or “mother,” making their avatar more suitable.  In some rare situations, the app will track grandparents if the owner decides to get the app on their phone.  This means they could track where your grandparents are all day along with everyone else in the household.  The owner does have the power to track anyone within their family no matter their age or the time of day. Along with that, the kids can see where the parents are as well. For example, they might get an alert saying, “Mom arrived at Target.” It is obvious that parents are under close watch as well.

How Does The App Know Where Certain Locations Are?

The app does know exactly where you are. Just like Google Maps, it knows exact locations such as Woodford County Highschool, specific addresses, and many other places (libraries, stores, etc.).  You can follow an order of directions in order to give each place a name.  For example, I could change my home address to say “Home” instead, in order to get exact details saying, “Emma arrived Home.” Let Grow gives another example stating, “Her phone pinged all the time: ‘Bruce left school.’ ‘Benji arrived home.’ ‘Bruce arrived home.'” The steps to doing this are simple to follow, giving parents/kids the ability to give other people’s home a title as well.  

Is Life360 Always Accurate?

Life360 is a very accurate app, however, it is not entirely accurate.  The app does work better when you have it open. The app does track location but does not entirely keep someone up to date at all periods of time.  People have been in situations where the phone will ping before someone has walked through their home door.  The app is fast but some people will find the app is late and not as speedy as it is talked to be.  The app, just like many others, gives the central idea of arriving and departing from areas. When the app is open others can watch your avatar moving along the road or around buildings.