The Life360 App can provide peace of mind for parents as they keep track of their child’s movements. So how does it work, how much is it, what are the benefits and is it really worth it? Here’s my full review..
Introduction
The Life360 App came about in 2005 when Hurricane Katrina hit the southeast coast of the United States, particularly New Orleans, Louisiana. Suddenly, families had no idea where their children, parents, grandparents, even pets, were. Chris Hulls, a native of San Francisco conceived the idea of Life360; 18 years later, the app has millions of users. However, as with all technology, especially something that keeps tabs on another person’s location, Life360 has had its share of supporters and naysayers. Though the app promotes safety and peace of mind, there are still those who question the ethics of such an app and the security behind it.
Is Life360 actually just an invasion of privacy? Could it bring more worry and fear down on your child’s shoulders and yours? Or will it relieve tension on both ends by providing safety alongside freedom? Let’s take a look at how it works, the various features, pros and cons, and go from there.
What is the Life360 App?
The Life360 App is an application you can download on your family’s Android and IOS devices to help keep track of their whereabouts. The app has been described as the “leading safety and coordination service for families worldwide”. Not only is a family member’s location able to be tracked, but there are also a number of safety features that Life360 provides, such as SOS alerts, crash detection, driver reports and even item tracking.
I have been using the free version of Life360 with my son Andy since he got his own mobile phone, but I recently upgraded to the premium membership for the extra features.
What does the app Life360 do?
Within the USA there are actually additional features for paid memberships but limited features for international users and therefore cheaper plans.
The Life360 App has multiple features (for international users such as myself in Australia) including:
- Tracks location of family members in your circle, and posts notifications and place alerts
- SOS alerts if a family member is in trouble
- Driver reports and crash detection
- Battery monitoring
- Customer support
How does it work?
The Life 360 App can be downloaded and installed on Android and IOS devices, and Google-assistant enabled devices. It uses GPS and location services to find the circle members’ location as well as notifies parents or circle members if a person is in danger and wants to send an SOS alert, and if a car has been in an accident.
Alerts can be placed on your child’s phone showing where they’re arriving or leaving from; You can also check out where they’ve driven in the past 48 hours (or 30 days with a premium membership). If Life360 believes a person has been in a car accident, it will ping that person. If they don’t respond, the app notifies family members.
You can set up several different ‘Places’ within the app, such as Home, Work, School, Playground and local Shops. You can receive real time location notifications when your child leaves or arrives at any of these Places configured within the App.
Can you use Life360 without someone knowing?
Yes and no. Obviously, your family members will know that they have the Life360 app on their phone, so, they’ll know you as the parent can see where they’re going and when. But your child won’t necessarily know exactly when you are tracking them.
Does the Life360 app cost money?
If you want just the basics, the Life360 app does not cost money. I used this version for a few months, but I soon saw the benefits of upgrading to premium for only a few dollars per month.
Within the USA, there are several different tiers of membership costing you between USD$7.99 per month, up to USD$24.99 per month, with certain features available that are unavailable for international users. Some of these features include Identity theft protection, roadside assistance and emergency dispatch, free towing, stolen phone protection and travel support.
For international users such as myself here in Australia, there is only the FREE version, OR the PREMIUM membership. The premium membership is USD$4.99 per month, which I have recently upgraded to.
Inclusions for premium include up to 30 days of location history, unlimited place alerts, individual driver reports, and priority customer support. I’m all for frugal living, but I think USD$4.99 is pretty reasonable and I’m happy with the features included for this price.
You can see the free vs premium comparison in the image below.
Benefits of using the Life360 App
Here are some advantages to the Life360 app:
- Most features are FREE; the cost comes in when you upgrade for a few extra features in premium
- Gives parents peace of mind knowing where their child is
- Notifications are handy for circle members’ arrival and departure at certain configured ‘Places’ within the App
- Allows parents to know if their child has been in a vehicle accident
- SOS alerts are a valuable safety feature
- Send and receive messages between family members within the App
- Doesn’t cause a strain on your phone’s battery life
- App is easy to use
- Use extra feature of ‘Tiles’ to find items such as keys, wallet etc
Drawbacks of using the Life360 App
As with all technology, not to mention a location app, there are disadvantages:
- If you want to take advantage of the full range of features, or want to add alerts to where your child is/has been, a subscription plan is necessary
- Mental health and relationship strain:
- Constantly checking the app to see where your child is.
- Worrying about your child if you see them at a specific location
- Trust issues between parent and child, and potential mum guilt
- Children feeling smothered and not free to explore/adventure/test boundaries.
- As with all location sharing, there is concern about where else the information is being shared. A few years prior, Life360 sold precise location data to third parties. However, they have since ceased this movement, only selling to a select few.
- Several negative online reviews regarding customer support and actual location services.
My experience using the Life360 App with my 13-year-old son, Andy
Personally, I find the Life360 App very easy to use and depending on how much freedom your child has, will depend on whether you think you need the paid premium version or not.
My son Andy has had a mobile phone since he was 11 years old, as myself and his father deemed it necessary considering our co-parenting arrangement, and the fact that he spent time at both parent’s houses.
When Andy was at primary school and his time was either spent at school, at OOSH, at either parent’s houses or with direct supervision from family members or friends, I didn’t think the paid version of Life360 was necessary, and I was happy to install the App, use it here and there and mostly trust that I knew where he was based on prior arrangements.
Now that Andy is 13 years old and in high school, he is starting to gain a little more independence and is allowed increasing amounts of freedom. He has a casual job at Subway at our local shops and walks to and from the shops at times. He also walks to and from school, spends time at home alone sometimes and goes to the park with his friends.
Upgrading to the premium membership meant I could get unlimited place alerts, rather than just 2.
This is very handy, as I can get notifications on my phone telling me ‘Andy has left school’, and several minutes later, also telling me, ‘Andy has arrived home’.
As my location services were also on, Andy was actually fed up receiving notifications on his phone, telling him of my whereabouts which he wasn’t interested in receiving. So, we turned these off on his phone, meaning I’m the only one receiving notifications of his whereabouts. It can also become a little annoying at times to constantly receive notifications informing of family members’ phone battery percentages.
Andy is a few years off driving just yet, so the driving history and crash detection features are not relevant to us yet, but I imagine once he starts driving in a few years time, this will become extremely valuable.
For now, I’m more than happy to keep the premium membership for the unlimited place alerts mostly. This allows me to keep track of his movements, ensuring he is where he says he is, and it helps him to feel safer too. I have also walked him through the SOS alert feature where he can press and hold if he feels unsafe, and enter the PIN to cancel. This will notify me if he feels he needs to send an SOS alert.
Andy doesn’t have an issue with me tracking his movements and he knows I’m doing it for his safety. As an authoritative parent, he also knows that if he was to break my trust and venture anywhere that we hadn’t discussed, this would be a bigger issue. He also knows that he can easily talk with me and ask if he wants to go and have some time to hang out with some mates or if he wants to walk around the shops for a bit after his Subway shift before he comes home.
Overall, I think the Life360 App is great. There are several features you can still access in the free version and your decision to upgrade to premium will only be determined by how much freedom your child has and how much you want or need to be tracking their movements.
For us, for a 13 year old who is just starting to gain more independence and is learning how to be in the big wide world unsupervised by an adult, the premium Life360 membership is worth it to me. I’ve made several mistakes as a parent, but I don’t believe this will be one of them.
FAQs about the Life360 App:
Can you avoid being tracked on Life360?
Yes, you can avoid being tracked on Life360. In fact, there are several articles found through a simple Google search that tell you how to turn off or change your location. MockGo was one location changing app that was suggested; apparently there are also spoofing apps through the Google store that Android users can use to manipulate their whereabouts.
Does Life360 tell you when someone checks your location?
No, the Life360 app doesn’t tell you when someone checks your location. So your child will have no idea when and how many times you, the parent, check on them.
Is Life360 Australian?
Life360 was created by Chris Hulls, a California, USA resident. The first financial backer, however, was an Australian, James Synge. Instead of going the normal route and premiering on Wall Street, Synge convinced Hulls to fly to Australia, where Life360 joined the ASX (Australian Securities Exchange) and began its stock launch.
In this article in the Australian Financial Review, you can read about the performance of the Life360 App, some of the recent concerns, and future plans.
Can Life360 hear your conversations?
No, Life360 cannot access your text messages, audio messages, or Internet browsing history (in case that was a concern).
What else does Life360 track?
Life360 can only track location and phone usage while the person is driving. The latter, however, is only with a paid premium plan. This allows the parents to see if their child is texting, browsing, or otherwise distracted while driving.
Is there a better location app than Life360?
There are a couple of apps that have popped up several times in terms of being better or on the same scale as Life360.Famisafe is a high contender. It’s very similar to Life360, able to locate your child in real-time, and also provides the ability to limit screen time. Of note, it is considered a parental control app, which Life360 tries to veer away from.
Glympse is also a locator app, but you don’t have to download an app on your child’s phone. The parent installs Glympse on their phone and when wanting to know their child’s location, the app sends that child a text or email notification with a link. Once that link is clicked, it sends location information back to the parent.
The Life360 App has some negative reviews online, as mentioned above, but there are also heaps of positive reviews on Google Play.
Summary
Overall, Life360 seems to be a safe, reliable tracking app if you’re wanting to locate your child or family member. There are many advantages while the disadvantages deal mostly with relationship strain. Let’s have a moment of truth. The effectiveness of Life360 and the possible relief or toll it could have on your family depends on the level of trust, communication, and independence that is already established between parent and child.
The Life360 App, if used properly and respectfully, can increase family safety and could be a way to reduce worry about your child growing up in what seems to be an ever-increasing volatile world. Yet it could also become constraining and restrictive if overused or abused. That is all dependent on you, your child and other members of the family.
Have you and your family used the Life360 App before, or considered it? What are your thoughts on tracking the location of your child in today’s world? Let me know in the comments below!