Where’s My Ride…Son…Daughter…Husband..? There’s a Free App for That!

by Lori Cunningham

I having been using a free app these past few months that is great for helping you find out, “where’s my daughter?” or where’s my son?”  With tons of location based apps available now, it makes it so much easier to ensure your family is safe.  All of the large mobile companies offer such services…but at a monthly price.  With Life360, the app is free and there is no cost to find out where your kids, family members, or even workout partner is.  Now you’re talking my language!

Life 360 reports that on average, people send 6 to 8 texts a day relating to the question, “where are you?”  For parents with tweens/teens, I can see how an app like Life360 would be invaluable.  When your child walks home from school, you can check her location.  After your son’s carpooler takes him home, you can make sure he arrived.  There are all sorts of ways you can use Life360 to make life less stressful while making yourself more informed.

Where’s My Family at Disney World?  at the Fair?  at the Concert?  at the Baseball Game?

Life360 is great to use while at Disney World, the local fair, or even the shopping mall.  Often times you split up from your family, perhaps some members went off to get Fast Passes, or some decide to go on a ride while others eat, or even some decide to shop at one store while the others shop at another.  Life360 works great to help know where everybody is.

Should you go to one of these places/events with friends, you can invite them to be a part of your Circle, which can be temporary for the time you’re together.  Afterwards, you can disengage it.  I remember going to the Orange County Fair with another family once.  Sometimes we split up dependent upon interests.  Using Life360 Circles would have helped keep us all in check.

Going Places

Another reason why I love the Life360 app is because you can set up Places within your circle that automatically alert you when someone has either arrived at school or left home.  You can set up two places for free.  This way, you don’t have to check your app to see their location…unless of course it’s 3:30pm and you haven’t received your Places alert yet!  Your son was supposed to be home by 3:15pm.  Now it’s easy for you to keep tabs on your children without having to remember to keep tabs on them each day.

Life360 makes it so simple…and you don’t have to pay a cent.

Where’s My Ride?

Last week I flew home to Los Angeles Airport (LAX) from my AVG Antivirus Launch event in NYC.  I was anxiously awaiting the arrival of my husband, who was coming with our kids to pick me up.  Due to good tailwinds, my flight came in early and my call to him to tell him I arrived caught my husband off guard.  They were eating at a restaurant about halfway to the airport.  With traffic, we were unsure how long my wait would be.  Then it hit me.  I could use my LIfe360 app to see where their car was to give me an idea of how much time I had to wait.  And of course, with traffic in Los Angeles, the time could be doubled.  So I opened up my Life360 to see where’s my family and opened my favorite traffic app, INRIX , to view the traffic flows on the freeways they were traveling on.  I could see it was going to be awhile, so I found a bench and settled in for a bit.

Before I checked my apps, I had thought they were much closer, so I was pacing by the taxi’s, thinking they would be there soon.  Having more information through Life360 gave me more control, causedless anxiet,y and gave me the opportunity to sit down and relax.

Where’s My Phone?

A number of Life360’s 50 million consumers have found an unanticipated benefit of using the app.  Some have reported that their child lost their phone.  Using the Life360 app, they were able to pinpoint the exact location of the phone, with some even knocking on the someone’s door to retrieve it back!  Can you imagine?  How cool is that?  With phone theft being common in high schools, this could prove to be very handy.

Regardless of theft, it’s a great tool to see where you might have left your phone.  Granted, it won’t help you find it in your house, but you might find you left your phone at work and didn’t realize it.

Where’s My Workout Partner?

Are you a part of a running club or have a faithful friend that you workout with?  Thanks to Life360’s new Circle feature, you can now extend tracking to friends/associates outside of your family.  I used to work out at 5:30am at a local bootcamp with a good friend of mine.  We had a pact that if we couldn’t make it, we wouldn’t tell the other since it might dissuade us from going.  On the days she didn’t make it, I found myself looking longingly at the door, hoping she’d come.  Misery loves company and I wanted her there with me!  But adding her to my Exercise Circle, at the gym I would be able to see if she left her house or stayed home.

I could see how the app would be great for a running club too.  It could help you keep an eye on the others – who’s ahead of the pack and who’s behind.  And especially great if you forgot the path you’re supposed to be running!  Just check to see where everyone else!  Although I do believe that you can only add up to 6 members in your circle, so choose the fast runners!

Other Features

• Safety Points – each person has the option to turn on safety points to see where hospitals, fire, and police stations are around you and the members in your circle
• Crime Markers – interested in seeing crime reports around your home?  Your child’s school?  Your work?  Now you can see what crime was reported around you
• History data – for each member in your circle, you can see a number of pinpoints on a map through their day as to where they were for the current day and the previous day
• Messaging – send messages easily and quickly to the whole family or circle to keep everyone in the loop at once

Is There a Premium Version?

Of course, Life360 needs to make money somehow.  Honestly, you could easily use the Life360 app and not even need the premium version.  But there are some neat features with the premium version to think about…

• Unlimited Places – you can choose more than 2 Places to be automatically alerted when someone leaves or arrives.  Great for your Circles too…remember my workout partner?  I can be alerted that she left the house!
• Expanded History Data – in the free app you can see the main geographic locations members in your family or circle have visited for the current day and the day before.  With the premium version, you can see unlimited history
• 27/7 Advisor – once pushing the Life Advisor button, you are instantly connected with a live person who can get emergency personnel to your exact location, help you personalized crisis care, or access your emergency profile
• Emergency Roadside Assistance – Life360 will send you a tow truck to your exact location when you have trouble with your car
• $100 Stolen Phone Protection…in case your phone gets stolen, Life360 will send you $100 to replace it
• Locate Up to Six Non-Smartphones – handy for your parents or in-laws who may not have a smartphone…or even your tween if you prefer s/he have a non-smartphone, you can still keep an eye on him/her

The premium Life360 app gives you additional peace of mind that your child has qick help, whether s/he is lost, needs roadside assistance, needs someone to talk to fast, etc.  It also gives you extra assurance that you have these same resources should you need them.  I’ve investigated some of these “live advisor” services before, especially for the elderly, and the monthly price is much higher.  The premium services on top of the free Life360 services are really quite extraordinary in helping you keep watch over both your children and your aging parents.

Life360 is a free app available on both Android and iPhones as well as the iPod Touch and iPad.  Some Android tablets work as well with Life360.  The premium Life360 version sells for $5/mo. or if you buy a whole year ahead of time, the cost is $50, which includes 2 months free.

A Mom’s Perspective

I am absolutely thrilled with Life360 and highly recommend it to you to use with your families.  It’s very user friendly, extremely helpful, and there are so many ways you can use the app in addition to helping keep your family safe.  My in-laws are planning a trip to the East Coast next week to see the Fall colors.  We don’t get very many Fall colors in Southern California.  I sent my mom-in-law a Life360 invite as a part of my Extended Family Circle, so I can keep track of where they are while on their trip.  Their trip covers several states.  I can also use the Life360 app to send messages to her.

Life360 is not meant to be a tracking app, so it’s best to sit down with the family to explain that the app is on their phone and how it can be used.  Anyone with the app on their phone can uninstall the app or turn off location sharing.  Of course, you don’t necessarily need to show your child that feature!    Life360 is meant to be a communication tool that helps families keep in touch and allow parents to feel more secure about their child’s safety while sparing them the hassle of having to check in.

Which circles would you create using Life360?

*  I was financially compensated for this post.  Myopinions are completely my own based on my experience.