• After 15+ years, we've made a big change: Android Forums is now Early Bird Club. Learn more here.

Best app for tracking kids?

Status
Not open for further replies.
Hello,

I'm an iPhone user, I used iLocalis app for more than an year on my own phone, I searched to see if it's made also for andorid and found this article with an intresting title Review: iLocalis For Google Android

iLocalis works great and has extra features helping you recover stolen hones, when the sim card is changed you will receive an SMS with the new simcard number, if you SMS the new sim with a special command you will get the longitude and latitude coordinates... ofcorse, all those if the firmware was not changed.

Also those programs that constantly send the location from time to time, depending the settings ware set, can drain the battery very fast, but if you set it to once an hour or so it's ok. No problem at all.

Hope you can find what you're looking for, maybe ilocalis is also made for Android platform.
 
If nothing else, use Send Position on the child's phone and have them sms you a picture/map of their location. It's cheap enough without pulling something over on a child. But if it were a serious issue and I wanted to know what my kid was doing I'd have whatever it takes on there. Total Care will send you a location if you send your phone a SMS message and a lot more including offering you solutions in the event your phone has been stolen.
 
I'm new to this forum. So I hope I don't break any forum rules by trying to help you. I have a similar situation with my 19 yr old son, whom we just got out of jail, and is in a lot of trouble. MobiStealth Cell Phone Spy Software Blackberry Android Symbian Mobile Spy Application. > tracking app for Droid.
Go to this site and read our story to help you and your son.

Scared and Worried Out of Our Wits For Our Son - General Discussion - Discussion Areas - KCI.org Methamphetamine Abuse Discussion Forum - Message Board
It's never to late.
 
What is the best app out there that is either free or under $5 that is hidden on phone, and will let me track my son's Android cell from my Android cell?

Even better if I could check text logs later on his phone, where he can't delete them.

Or, anything else that would be useful that I haven't thought of and you have?! :)

Thanks in advance for your help!
 
red97xj said:
What is the best app out there that is either free or under $5 that is hidden on phone, and will let me track my son's Android cell from my Android cell?

Even better if I could check text logs later on his phone, where he can't delete them.
Click to expand...


Assuming your son's phone is part of a family plan and you are the primary subscriber, your carrier can provide the tracking and logs of email and texts, although I doubt it will be done without the phone in question being notified.

Putting apps like that on a phone that you do not have primary control over, whether you pay the bill or not, is illegal in many places and is against forum rules to even entertain such questions.

Or, anything else that would be useful that I haven't thought of and you have?! :)

Thanks in advance for your help!
Click to expand...

If you trust your son so little, or suspect him of behavior that warrants monitoring, 1.) take away his phone (if it's yours to take away), 2.) Seek counseling if open discussion is not possible and 3.) if necessary involve the authorities before the consequences of his actions become so serious they affect the rest of his life.
 
lunatic59 said:
Putting apps like that on a phone that you do not have primary control over, whether you pay the bill or not, is illegal in many places and is against forum rules to even entertain such questions.
Click to expand...

But yet some of the carriers offer such a feature. What makes this against forum rules?!
 
Myself, AND my son see no problems with me knowing where he is. Verizon offers this for a fee... it just makes since to use the smart phone instead. Have u ever heard of latitude? (google it)

I pay for "his" phone.

Anyone else have any good apps?

Thx.
 
CptGemini said:
https://www.mylookout.com/ is great and it works on black berries and windows phones too, not just androids. It has a feature where you can track the phones location and with premium service even lock it down. Its largely free but there are a few premium features as well.

EDIT: It makes backups of call logs and pictures taken along with all contacts as well :-)

https://www.mylookout.com/features
Click to expand...

I created a task with Tasker last night that locks the phone, uses a password, changes the display, turns silent off and the volume up, plays a sound then SMS texts me with the GPS coordinates. Total Control will also do this I believe.
 
for parents:

I highly recommend lookout, it is what I use for my daughter (wife and my phones) so we know where she is in case she get kidnapped (highly unlikely but possible). Some commentary, we told her the program is on there so its no big deal. she's 9. you just need to root your phone and move it to the /system folder so it can't be uninstalled by any random person.

Also, we setup some content filtering in her google profile which is a global setting if you do so from a PC and go to settings, so images and searches are just a tad safer than random google searches.

a recent app we've been looking for in general is:
https://www.seekdroid.com/

as just mentioned on lifehacker, looks like a great and simple app:
Seek Droid is the Simplest Way to Find Your Lost Android Phone
 
IzelTokatl said:
for parents:

I highly recommend lookout, it is what I use for my daughter (wife and my phones) so we know where she is in case she get kidnapped (highly unlikely but possible). Some commentary, we told her the program is on there so its no big deal. she's 9. you just need to root your phone and move it to the /system folder so it can't be uninstalled by any random person.

Also, we setup some content filtering in her google profile which is a global setting if you do so from a PC and go to settings, so images and searches are just a tad safer than random google searches.

a recent app we've been looking for in general is:
https://www.seekdroid.com/

as just mentioned on lifehacker, looks like a great and simple app:
Seek Droid is the Simplest Way to Find Your Lost Android Phone
Click to expand...

Tasker can be modified to do just about anything other similar programs can do. If I'm close to my wifi it does one thing. When I'm not, it does another. Keeping up with a child like this would be simple, as you could have it SMS text you every time a condition changed. You can also have GPS coordinates sent to you. The only limit is your imagination.
 
brnr17 said:
winters,
I have not a doubt in my mind that your a good parent. Just to offer a little something though. im 24 so i'm still a "kid" myself in your eyes. But being that age offers the chance to see both sides. I'm young enough to remember what and why i did things and old enough to now understand why my parents did what they did. Although this tracking program will in fact give you the answer to whether he/she is lying or not on where they are or have been, it still won't solve the root cause. IMO all this will do is further break down any trust that may be left and cause yet more acting out. I'm sure your at your witts end and looking to do something and i applaud you for going to such lengths, because i've personally seen parents that havent come close, but i wouldn't rely on a tracking program to be the solution to get things back on the right track. I don't really have any advice on how to handle your situation, i'm just trying to let you know what you might expect to come of using this. I wish you the best of luck in your endeavor and hope things work out for the best for you and your family.
Click to expand...

Amen.
(Bolding mine)

MyLookout is another app (to find your lost or stolen phone) that shows its current GPS location in a browser. It doesn't log its route over time, though. For that you would need (to write) a script that polls, logs, and plots the location every, say, 3 seconds. Maybe Tasker could do that?

But TBH, if I were that kid I wouldn't trust my dad for one bit, so I'd simply not use that phone he gave me. Keep it switched off for 90% of the time "to conserve battery power, dad"... No tracking. Or, worse, I'd keep it switched on, but in an unsuspicious location. Or stick it in somebody else's car (without them knowing) to create fun tracks to screw around with my dad's head...
But I would also need an uncompromised, and properly functioning phone, of course, so my dad's m.o. – however well-intentioned – might drive me to e.g. stealing to be able to afford one...

So, really, this tracking plan of yours seems counter-productive from every angle i look at it, winters. Sorry.
 
I am an authorized dealer for mobistealth. I just want to be honest. Mobistealth is going to be the best option but it is expensive. Any app will give you push to locate type features, but to actually track you are going to have to spend some dollars.
 
If you don't hide it then it will never work. It's just not hard to figure out ways around it if you know about it. Leave the phone at a friends while you go party for example. Even set up call forwarding to your buddies phone so that if you call his number, he can answer. If he's that shady and gets into that much trouble that you can't trust him, then honestly my kneejerk reaction is to say take his phone, tell him to be home at a certain time(say 5pm) and stay there. Seems harsh but I know from personal experience that you can't change him and tracking him wont change his behavior it just "might" allow you to catch him lying exactly once. If you really want to change him, you need to take a more proactive role. And I realize fully that Im not there and don't know that you haven't done this. But i was him when I was his age, and my parents had a hell of a time with me. Tracking my cell never would have worked. They finally simply took away my freedom entirely. I had to be home at 5 and didn't get to go anywhere most of the time. When I was allowed to they had to either be there or be able to see me there at any time. For example if i said I was going to eat dinner at Carabas they have to know which one and they would sometimes drive by there to make sure I was really there. It seemed at the time that they were nazis and i hated them but now i know they were doing it for me own good and Im glad they did because believe me I would have ended up in jail or a graveyard if they hadn't.

And for those who say "let your kid live his life dont spy on him etc etc" its obvious that you don't have kids, and likely still are kids(no matter your age). Any ADULT knows that kids need supervision, and if you plan on letting them be gone from your sight for hours a day and not at school, then you need to be able to track them. Sadly tracking them via a cell just wont work in the end. You are probably gonna have to do it more the old fashioned way sir, demand he tell you where he is at any given time and be willing to offer up PROOF that he's really there at all times when asked, or ground his ass and take that phone. I know the risks, that he could run away. But in the end, better to have him run away having at least tried to save him then to let him keep doing whatever he wants out of fear that he might run. If he runs away there's a very good chance he won't make it a month and will come back with a new look on life. But if he's allowed to continue his crime and drug use, he will likely end up in jail or worse. Just my two cents :)
 
Someone suggested Wave Secure...I haven't used it, but I do use Theft Aware which is similar. It's designed to install on your own phone so you can trigger various actions from another phone if it gets stolen.

It's completely invisible and can be heavily customised. You can definitely track where it is at any given moment. Not sure how you could track where it's been. The work around may be that you can set it to update with a gps location every 5 minutes or something. If you set it to text you the location rather than show it on the map then you'd have a list of all the locations the phone had been during the day.

Then you'd have to plug them into google maps or something.

It may be a long way round, but while a lot of these apps can track where the phone is in real time (ish), I'm not sure many can record where the phone's been throughout the day so you can see it on a map later. Maybe wrong though.

Also, have you seen Life 360? I know it's a comprehensive tracking app, but again, not sure if it can be made invisible.
 
BigAl_SC said:
Looking for one more accurate than latitude and updates quicker. We have 4 droids (mine, wifes, 17/boy, 15/girl) and all of us know where each of the others are at anytime. It's not a trust issue but a safety and peace of mind issue. This thread has given me several choices. Thank you!

I also want to add my 2 cents on the parent trashing. These are my phones (except my wife's) and my kids know that I have full rights to see texts/pictures/ location any time I want. Their choice is to go without one if they don't agree (yes I know they can fake a location in Latitude). Just like anything or any room in the house also belongs to the parents.

Now that I've got some of the younger ones pissed, I'll say that I have 2 great kids that I've never had to do any of the above but they know I can and would if needed, probably with them helping, watching and/or explaining. It is called parenting. My prayers are that I've brought them up right and they know right from wrong.
Click to expand...

I agree with your statement entirely. I will be purchasing two new android LG Optimums S phones for my 13 and 11 year old's because they're always out with sports or friends and I need to know where they're at and more importantly if an emergency does take place I can be there.

It's nice to hear from a parent that actually.... well parents. I can't tell you how many I've come across that wanna be friends with their kids and or want nothing to do with the actual proses its self. Hey, I love my children and if it weren't such a crazy world and it weren't so expensive to have children I'd have 3 more. I'm not their friend, I'm their father. What that means is we are cool. I respect them and mutually they respect me back, but the hierarchy in the house is known and requests and responsibilities follow that order as well. My children understand the need for this app as they understand some of the dangers that lurk out there. I'm just glad there's an option for parents that doesn't brake bank. As I understand it there free... Let me know if I'm mistaken or if someone has a free option.

I've chosen to go with two options:

1.) Family GPS Tracker, by Life 360

2.) GPS Tracking, by Family Safety Products.

My understanding is the apps / service is free.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top Bottom