You love your family and want to keep them as safe as possible. Knowing where your loved ones are at any given time can be a great sense of relief. Many people have chosen to use a locator app called Life360.
Life360 has a lot of benefits and features that make it a stellar choice for protecting and locating families, but some wonder whether it is safe to use or not. Below, we’ll learn more about what this product is and whether it is safe enough for you to use or not.
What Does Life360 Do?
The Life36 does a lot more than you might imagine. Let’s look at some of those features to see why it is so popular. Primarily, it is a location-sharing app with improved accuracy. Our features take a comprehensive approach to family safety, covering driving, emergency assistance, and digital safety. Every aspect of the app is meant to help keep you and your family safer. Below, we’ll talk more about the various safety features that are available in the app.
How Does Life360 Family Locator Work?
The app works by allowing users to create a “circle” of family and friends. This circle can include anyone in your life that you want to stay connected to – whether that’s your spouse, your kids, or your parents. Learn more about how the app works here.
Why Was Life360 Created?
Life360 was created in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. We knew there was a better way for loved ones to find each other during natural disasters, especially when cell service isn’t reliable. The same concept of keeping loved ones safe translates into daily life as teens begin driving, students go off to college, families adventure outdoors, and families seek digital safety online. With more than 15 years of helping people stay connected and safe, we understand that safety and independence go hand in hand.
We give families the peace of mind of knowing that in the event of an emergency—whether a hurricane, wildfire, boating accident or car crash—their loved ones can be located and directly connected to first responders. This provides families with a safety net to explore the world independently, knowing that Life360 is there 24/7 to support them.
Peace of mind starts with location sharing.
Know where they are without asking.
See when they get home from school, leave work, or start warming up on the practice field. When you’re all busy doing your thing, Life360 keeps you in the know.
Try Life360 for free!
Is It Safe to Track Your Children?
Families should be able to keep track of where their kids are since the parents aren’t always able to be home. Having a location-sharing app that can let you know when your kids get to school, get home, etc. can provide an added level of safety.
Today, there are a couple of pieces of legislation that dictate how children and the media can interact. The Child Online Privacy & Protection Act (COPPA), and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) have age-specific guidelines. This means when someone signs up for Life360, they are required to share their birthdate and based on their age, the app will automatically adjust the privacy levels and settings.
Children who are under 13 (or under 16 in California) are opted out of certain settings. There is also an automated in-app parental consent mechanism, which can allow parents to provide consent for children to use the service.
Life360 Safety Features
The Life360 safety features help to keep your loved ones protected around the clock.
One of our most popular features is our state of the art Crash Detection. The Crash Detection feature senses any collision over 25mph and immediately reaches out to the driver or passenger involved. If help is needed or we don’t get a response, we’ll alert all members of your Circle and all emergency contacts with the vehicle’s location. With paid plans, we’ll send first responders directly to the vehicle’s location through the emergency dispatch feature.
Place Alerts and smart notifications can let you know when someone gets home from school, leaves their workplace, gets to the library, and more. It’s a convenient way of checking in with one another without needing to pick up the phone since the alerts are automatic.
Bubbles are another good feature. Sometimes, people might not want their exact location known. In those cases, they can set up a Bubble, which will only provide their general location for a set amount of time. This can provide some additional privacy. The people in your Circle will just see your approximate location, but all of the safety features remain active.
The SOS emergency dispatch feature provides users with even more peace of mind. It allows users to request help without needing to call and speak with anyone. If you feel unsafe, no matter where you are, or if you are in an emergency, you can send a silent alert to your Circle and emergency contacts. You can have emergency services sent to your location if needed, as well.
The goal of these features is to help people stay safer whether they are just going back and forth to school, are headed to an unfamiliar area, and more. We love our family members and want to protect them. When we can’t be there with them, this app is the next best thing.
Life360 and Data Privacy
You want to make sure that not only is your family safe, but also that your data is too. When you sign up and start usingLife360, make sure you visit the in-app privacy center. You can get there by clicking on Settings and then going to Privacy & Security. You will then get to make decisions on how your information is used, stored, processed, and shared. It will provide you with more control over your Life360 data privacy.
For example, you can choose to exclude yourself from the analytics program. You can also visit the site to learn more about how Life360 can keep your data safe. The information through the Privacy & Security section on the app is written in plain-to-understand language, so you can determine what every aspect of the app means. It will also outline the ways your data could be used and tells you how to approve or turn off each category. Of course, you still have the option of reading the full Terms of Use and Privacy Policy if you choose.
Verdict: Yes, Life360 Is Safe to Use
So, is Life360 safe for you to use? Yes, Life360’s membership makes every day easier with ways to check on family members, stay organized, and stay sane. Staying connected with family means that you have more visibility without needing more control. Every member of the family can have independence, and parents can be the relaxed versions of themselves they want to be.
Life360 members also have complete control over how their data is used, stored, processed, and shared, including the ability to opt-out of their data being used even for aggregated insights in the Life360 privacy center.
The primary way that data is used byLife360 is to power and improve the Life360 service. Life360 monitors events and streams of location data to help ensure a smooth operating experience for members.
Life360 also utilizes its data to power services like Crash Detection, which has helped thousands of members receive emergency services when they needed it most. All of the third-party service providers Life360 utilizes are bound by legal terms to ensure all information is managed in accordance with applicable laws and upholds the privacy of its members.
Keep Your Family and Data Safe with Life360
Now that you have a better understanding of how Life360 works, you can see why this family safety app is a good solution for a lot of people. It’s easy to use, it’s an affordable way to have more peace of mind, and it is a safe app when it comes to your data and privacy since you have control over what is shared. Check out the application, learn more about the features, and see what it can do for you and your loved ones.
