Parental control and phone tracking apps have seen extraordinary growth in popularity over the last five years. More and more parents and people are looking for GPS tracking apps to have more control of their kids, friends, or families.
Accompanying this growth in popularity, the market has responded with many apps that promise a solution for parental control or phone tracking in general.
Life360 has appeared on the radar as one of the most popular parental control apps in 2022 and in this detailed review we will provide you with information on Life360 so that you know all the details about it and can determine if it is right for you.
What is Life360?
Life360 is a family locator and GPS tracking app with the aim of taking care of the family and providing a comprehensive safety and coordination features for life at home and on the go — all in one place.
Here’s the main features of Life360:
- Location Sharing: See your family’s real-time whereabouts easily throughout the day.
- Place Alerts: Get notified as loved ones come and go from your most frequented spots.
- One-Tap Directions: Navigate directly to any Circle member by tapping on their photo — no address needed.
- Driver Report: See how (and what) your drivers are doing behind the wheel to encourage safe habits.
How Does Life360 Work?
Life360 is very simple to use. You can follow the steps below to use it:
Step 1. Download The Life360 App
You must first install the Life360 app on the cell phones of all family members. You can download the Life360 app on Google Play or App Store for free.
An advice:
Before installing the app on your children’s device, it would be wise to talk to them. You could tell them that the app is not a tool to infiltrate their privacy, but to make sure they are safe all the time. Convincing may take some time, but it’s important that they understand the importance of the app.
Step 2. Create A Family Circle
After installation, go to the “Home” screen and tap on the Life360 icon. Now, you must create a family “Circle” to which only family members can enter through a direct invitation.
To use the app and create a circle for your family/friends, you will need to register your account. The information required here includes your name, phone number, your email address, and a strong password.
Step 3. Adding New Members
Once you’re done, you’ll see a map and your current circle. By default, you will be alone here and can only see your own location.
To start using Life360, you will need to add new members. To do this, scroll to the bottom of the screen. Here, you’ll see a “+” icon, or the “Invite new members” option. You will now see the generated invite code that you will need to send to a family member or friend so that they can access your circle.
You’ll also see a “Send Code” option that will prompt you to choose the sending method when you tap on it. Once you have chosen the method, enter the recipient’s phone number. Now, just tap “Send”.
Step 4. Advanced Settings
With the three steps we mentioned above, the life360 family locator is already configured and ready to use.
However, Life360 is has rich features. You can continue to set up some advanced features (mainly from the paid version of the app):
- Save your family’s top Places like home, work, and school to get notified as everyone comes and goes.
- Life360 comes with a cool widget that will make the entire app more accessible and much more convenient to use.
Life360 Cost
Life360’s basic service is 100% free of charge to download and use. also offer three paid memberships: Life360 Silver, Gold, and Platinum that give you more of the features and benefits you love.
The Silver membership costs $7.99 per month, the Gold membership costs $14.99 per month, and the Platinum membership costs $24.99 per month. By switching to annual billing, you can save up to 44% on your membership.
The features and benefits of the Silver, Gold, and Platinum memberships will cover all the family members in your Circle. You can try any of these paid plans for 7 days for free.
For users outside of the U.S. and Canada, you can use Life360 Premium with additional features. Life360 Premium will cost you USD 4.99 monthly (17% discount for annual payment).
Who is Life360 for?
The concept of Life360 app is to give families a modern digital solution in order to take advantage of the use of cell phones to offer an easy-to-use app that gives control of the location of each member of the family, allowing not only detailed information in real time but also communication functions and location of members directly.
Although Life360 is typically used by families, this app is also used by different groups of people who need a general control app to keep an easy and safe surveillance and follow-up between the members.
From our point of view, we believe that Life 360 can be useful for different use cases.
On the one hand, we see that the application has a very high potential for the elderly and/or those with cognitive impairment, as well as for the care of people with some type of disability. In this case, the application can provide great peace of mind to relatives and caregivers by allowing them to view the user’s position at all times, as well as receive information about the places they have passed or their battery level. In addition, the alert button function is offered so that you can alert in case of problems.
Another of the most common use cases may be that of parental control to know the location of minors at certain times of the day when there is no face-to-face control.
In turn, the application can be useful for the visualization and communication of groups made up of several people who go on group trips, excursions or camping.
If Life360 is not right for you, you can find more Life360 alternatives.
Life360 Review Final Verdict
All in all, Life360 is a great app to make sure the people you care about are doing well all the time. It will help you keep track of where they are, where they are going, and if they need help.
However, in our opinion, it is best not to use this application to overprotect your children or parents or to exercise excessive control over your partner, as this is not the purpose and can lead to misunderstandings and undesirable situations. From our point of view, it should serve as a mechanism to allow emergency communication, facilitate communication and allow knowing the location of users.
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