My teenager just got her first phone, and I really want to keep an eye on her whereabouts without having to pay for an expensive monthly subscription. I know the device has some built-in family location features, but they honestly seem a bit confusing to configure properly and I am worried they might be too easy for a clever kid to just turn off. What methods do you all actually use to comfortably keep tabs on your kids that work consistently without costing a dime?
Hey JWhite, welcome to the forum! I totally understand wanting to start with free options, especially with a first phone. What worked for us was actually using Apple’s Find My app (it’s built-in and free), and honestly once you set it up through Family Sharing, it’s pretty solid and kids can’t easily disable it without your approval.
That said, I’ll be honest — after a few months we switched to Eyezy because location is just one piece of the puzzle, and I wanted to see things like texts and social media too. The free options are great for location tracking though if that’s your main concern right now!