Recently, a friend told me about a great mobile App that I needed to check out. After using it for a few weeks, I am comfortable in giving you an honest opinion.
What got the ball rolling and me downloading this to my phone was when a friend of mine was telling me about it. The enthusiasm she had for this App got me excited just seeing how jazzed about it she was. When someone is so passionate about something, the feeling is contagious. Generally, I trust no one and am very suspicious, but I thought of all the fun I could have with this App.
The whole premise of this App is simple– track your location, allow “family members or friends” to contact you and receive updates in reference to your current location. Using your GPS, those in your circle can “ping” your location.
Privacy Concerns
If you happen to be one of those people that are concerned about “big brother” tracking you, this is not the App you want. If you want to keep tabs on your family members (when I say family members, I use that term in general and it can be any one of your contacts), then here you go. You can also locate nearby hospitals, police departments, and fire stations. Read on…
So where was this App when I was raising my three children who are now adults? It sure would have come in handy. My kids were so computer savvy though, they would’ve probably turned off the locator option and it would have been worthless.
Installation And Testing
My friend and I really wondered if this would work or not and if it could be a valuable tool. We put it to the test. I installed it on a friend’s mobile and my own. I stayed at the location and she left. Tapping on the App showed it was constantly updating and telling me she was moving and where she was. It was really neat and I found myself thinking about all the people who I would love to track. Of course, I would need to add them first to my circles and have them download the App and accept my invitation.
Once the program is downloaded and installed (they need to accept the invitation) you can see their location, send them a message, and “check in” notifying them of your well-being. How cool is that? It kind of reminds me of that necklace that some seniors wear around their necks called Life Alert.
The only drawback I could see is accuracy. I have not had problems with it, but I have read where others have. I suppose if you were suspicious of someone and used it, and it was not working correctly, it could ruin a relationship. Again, I had no issues with it. I would’ve installed it on my husband’s phone, and I tried, but his is too old and would not support it.
The instructions are clear and concise.
If the phone is shut off though, it will not work. Also, if you turn off your location services, it will not work, either.
The installation was seamless. For an Android Phone, go to the Google Play Store and search for ‘Life360’. On an iPhone you would go to the App Store to get it. You can read more about it at the Life360 home page.
Free vs Pro Versions
Life360 is a free download, but like any App out there, you can get the Premium version. The Premium version is $5.00 a month or $50.00 a year. What you get for that is 24/7 Live Adviser to anyone who is a Circle Member of yours. You get a real person no matter what time of the day or night who can help in the event of an emergency. You’ll also get unlimited location updates for non-smartphones, unlimited Places, $100 in stolen phone protection, and expanded History data. Some features are not available outside of the US.
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I have been using this App for about a month with my 16 year old. The first week seemed great, a month later I have a different opinion. The location/GPS notification seems to run at least 30minutes behind at best. When have checked and rechecked the settings and she is typically home for 30 minutes before I get notified that she left school. For this reason, I hesitate telling anyone to pay for the service, seeing that it is not the most reliable. Find my friend has been more accurate in our experience.
thanks for the update, I used it and had no problems, but always like to hear about others experiences.
same exact experience here. It worked well one time where I could see my son driving up from Alabama but all of a sudden since then it is way behind so that reduces the value significantly.
My Life360 is showing numbers that change with time. Is it counting the number of times that I’ve used it to locate someone or the number of times someone else has used it to locate me.
I prefer eMobi 360 https://play.google.com/sto… it is a better product and easy to use. Has a To-do list
thanks for letting us know. To do Lists hmmmm. I have enough to do don’t need more.
If once life 360 stops updating automatically, it does not work again without the help of the user.
Has worked very well for us. Use it constantly. In 5 minutes my son turned off the locator option. In 5 minutes I informed him the phone will be taken away. In 5 minutes the locator was back on. We’re still the parents. The kids are glad we care.
I’m glad it is working out for you. Everyone will have an opinion and we appreciate feedback. This is how we discover what works and what doesn’t and why. Thanks for your comment.
Son has an Apple. I have an Android. I turned on the leave/arrive school option and it has not worked yet.
Currently, he is in school however the feature is showing him at a location he was at yesterday.
I’m just today reviewing the Life360 app, to consider using it on two phones for now (my Samsung S8 and my wife’s Apple iPhone 8 plus). Reading the reviews on the Google Play Store, there are many reviews with today’s date (Nov.10) talking about a malware or virus infection. The developer has posted responses on all of those, saying “they will look into it.”
I believe the app has been in existence for several years, so this is surprising. Is there anything new on this threat?
Hello! try: #eMobi #locator and organizer of groups or families, location of its members in real time, can chat and organize together a list of tasks or activities. https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=ar.com.megaingenieria.emobi.locator
My family loves this app, we have been using it for over two years now, wife left her phone at a store and did not know it, we were able to track the phone back to the store and retrieve the phone, so it has already saved us big time, I like to know when my son leaves and arrives at school and this app does that for me.
For accurate GPS I’m using Familio (https://familiohq.com) because it automatically starts and stops tracking based on my motion and not only GPS. It improves reliability greatly.
I think parental controls help a lot, they are easy and convenient. I recently also wanted to monitor my daughter’s text messages as various texting issues are becoming more and more common. I have tried FamilyTime, it is good for tracking and app blocking.