Here is the next installment of our Lets Review video series. In this video I look at Life 360. They advertise themselves as “Your new family circle.” The app provides location tracking, driving behavior monitoring, arrival and departure notifications, and in app family messaging. All of these features are good and important. You may be surprised, however, at why I don’t recommend the app.
Features that are available in other apps, hard to find price
One of the easiest ways to protect your kids online is to monitor their internet activity. Accountability software is the most effective way to do that. Accountability software does not block anything, it will report when something inappropriate has been viewed so you can talk to your child or significant other about what they spend their time doing online.
Our favorite Accountability Software is Accountable2You. I love it for a lot of reasons, probably the biggest reason is their support base. I have had a great experience when I have had to contact their support team to help me figure out setting up new devices. Some of the best features of Accountable2You are their GPS tracking (included,) their iOS VPN settings, and their time management tracking.
The video above will walk you through how to sign up and use Accountable2You. We are an affiliate of this software and you’ll get 30 days free if you use our promo code: BECAUSEFAMILY.
I remember being a kid and riding my bicycle or rollerblades all over the neighborhood. We could go out and have all the fun we wanted as long as we checked in here and there. That usually meant trekking back to the house and hollering in the back door, “Mom! We’re good” and heading back out for the next adventure. Times are changing. It’s getting increasingly troublesome to allow your kids or teenagers to go out and do things without you. Our technology has been giving us ways to keep updated with our children’s activities for a while now but the newest app from Google, “Trusted Contacts” might be one of the better options.
For years I have been helping parents set up tools they can use to protect their kids online. GPS tracking has always been available in some way as addons or with a workaround in certain apps but Trusted Contacts was built to do exactly what parents have in mind when they think of tracking their kids’ location.
“We’re actually going to help some people, and potentially save some lives.” – David Tattersall, (Google)
The app was built to help keep people safe. Whether checking in as ok during a natural disaster, allowing your location to be viewed while walking home from a friend’s house at night, or keeping an eye on our kids while they are out with friends, Trusted Contacts gives a simple way to remind them to check-in. Even tech writers are seeing the implications for family safety:
I can definitely see how parents will want to install this on their kids’ [ . . . ] phones though. – Frederic Lardinois (TechCrunch)
After installing the app you set up which contacts in your phone are “trusted.” Then whenever they want, they can ping your phone with a notification to check in with your location. You will tap the button to check in and it will update them for you. You can decline to update but if you don’t do anything for five minutes, it’s going to send them your information automatically. This will allow you to update them that you’re safe, as it will alert them that you declined, but without disclosing your location.
Trusted Contacts is only available for Android but the iPhone version is in development. If you and your kids have Android phones I recommend downloading this app and setting it up soon. As your kids go about their increasingly busy schedule, you’ll quickly see the benefit of being able to remind them to check-in with their location. This is a pretty cool new tool for parents.
In the meantime, there are ways to view and track location on an iPhone (mainly using messenger.) Stay tuned for a video for subscribers that will teach you how to set that up.