What to know about Verizon’s family locator apps and monitoring devices for kids

Chaperoning a group of teenagers on a field trip and worried about the ones who wander off? Want to know where your kid is while you’re stuck in traffic during your evening commute? Need to make sure your oldest makes it to the dorm on a solo drive back from holiday break? You’re not alone. Research shows that about half of parents in the US say they use some kind of GPS device to help monitor their kids. Studies also say it’s essential that parents be transparent with their kids about the kind of devices they’re using and why.

If you want to keep up with your kids’ locations, here’s a quick roundup of the tech that can help—including a Verizon pick for each example.

What can I use to monitor my child’s location?

Generally, there are three options that can help.

The first and simplest is to ask kids to share their location. On iOS, this can be done with Share My Location in Messages or through the Find My app, which lets trusted contacts follow their real-time location. On Android, they can use Google Maps to share their live location with selected contacts.

The second option is to install a GPS monitoring app on the child’s smartphone. The app can be set to send location updates in real time.

The third is a device, such as the Gizmo Watch 3, which has built-in GPS tracking.

What to know about family locator apps

Real-time location sharing. Family members going in different directions? All the time? You can install a family locator app such as on everyone’s smartphone and monitor them all in near real time.

Geofencing and location alerts. These apps can provide more location insights using GPS. For instance, you can set a geofence—a mapped boundary around a school or neighborhood—and receive a notification if your kid enters or leaves that area. You can also customize the geofencing monitoring information when you set up a profile for each user in the app.

Temporary location sharing. Some apps offer time-bound or trip-based monitoring. Instead of sharing their location all the time, a child can choose to share their journey with a specific contact until they reach their destination. With Verizon Family’s Safe Walk feature, your kid can share their route in real time with you or another trusted contact. No need for the “text me when you get there” dance. You see their progress and they feel supported.

Verizon’s pick: Verizon Family. You can set up a profile for all the smartphones in your family and easily get near-real-time location sharing and set geofencing and Safe Walk, all from one app.

What to know about kids smartwatches with GPS

When Ray Pastore, Ph.D.—a parent, a contributing writer for “Parenting in a Digital World” and a professor of esports at the University of North Carolina Wilmington—started researching watches when his son was 8, he decided on the Gizmo Watch.

“My son can call us at any time,” Pastore says. “We call him; he picks up. We’re going [on vacation] in two weeks, and he’s going to wear it there in case he gets lost, heaven forbid.”

In addition to monitoring, the smartwatch has two-way calling and texting to make it easy to check in or ask for a ride home.

Verizon’s pick: Gizmo Watch 3. It was designed to be safe and durable for active kids and has two-way calling so parents can call the watch if they’re worried. Parents can also put the watch in school mode to avoid disruptions in class.

What to know about smartphones

When Kathy Newsom had to chaperone 20 of her daughter’s friends on a field trip, they decided as a group to use the Share My Location feature from their smartphones and share their locations with the main chaperones.

“They mostly wanted to feel safe and didn’t want someone getting separated from the herd,” Newsom says. “That’s what led to the location monitoring idea. The kids and chaperones shared locations with everyone.”

For kids old enough to handle the responsibility of a smartphone, the built-in features such as location sharing can be turned on. Most phones will show you the location of the phone you’ve asked it to monitor. On some platforms, such as iOS, you can choose a timeframe for monitoring location, such as one hour, one day or indefinitely. This approach works well if your kid knows how to uninstall a GPS monitoring app.

Verizon’s pick: Verizon Family. If you’re going on a field trip and juggling several people and their devices, Verizon Family allows you to share your location with a limited number of smartphone users—even if they’re not on your wireless plan. You can invite them as Members on your Verizon Family account. Once they accept the invitation and download the Verizon Family app, they can participate in location sharing.

What to know about safe-driving apps for new drivers

When her son became a new driver, Stacy Root Chermak wanted to check in on him more often.

“I started it when my son started driving,” says Chermak, who lives in Sacramento, California. “Living in California, we travel freeways a lot, and the app helps with keeping on the locations and speed he drives. If he wasn’t checking in, I could check on him and see roughly where he was. Just a little more comfort when he started being more free.”

Safe-driving apps, which are installed on a smartphone, monitor driving behavior and send alerts about hard braking or texting while driving. And some parents use these driving insights to help their kids become better drivers.

Verizon’s pick: Verizon Family Plus. You can monitor several devices from one easy app, get teen driver insights on speeding and hard braking, monitor texts and calls, and set screen-time limits.

What to consider when shopping for a device that monitors GPS location

Ready to get monitoring? As you search for the right fit for you and your family, consider the following:

• Ease of use. In the device or app reviews, try to find information about how easy the tech is to use. If it’s too complicated, kids won’t use it—and you likely won’t either.
• Age range. The Gizmo Watch was specifically built for kids ages 8 and up. Smartphones with family monitoring apps are ideal for kids old enough to use a smartphone. Check the age range on the device or app. For the best value, search for family locator apps, such as Verizon Family.
• Price. Some tracking apps have a one-time activation fee or a monthly subscription charge.
• Durability. If it’s a device, such as a smartwatch or a smartphone, check that the device is water-resistant and durable.
• Battery life. Parents can track battery life on some devices, such as the Gizmo Watch. This feature can remind families to charge their devices so they’re ready when they need them.
• Alerts and notifications. Try to find features that send notifications when your child goes outside designated areas, also called geofencing.
• Communication options. Some devices simply show location, and others, such as a smartwatch or a smartphone, let you call or text your child—in addition to providing real-time monitoring.
• Real-time monitoring. GPS technology is still the most reliable way to get real-time updates about the location of the device. Make sure that the device will work with your phone plan.

Monitoring apps can come in handy even when kids are living on their own, says Kathy Jared of Moline, Illinois.

“It’s a safety net for our adult kids who live on their own,” says Jared, whose children are all grown. “We don’t bug them if we see they’re at the gym—but if they’re at the store, we might text and ask them to grab something.”

So what’s the best tech for different ages?

Ages 8 and up: smartwatches. For children too young for a smartphone but old enough to run around the neighborhood, kid-friendly devices such as the Gizmo Watch are a smart choice. Parents can easily get to the GPS map from the watch’s app dashboard and get updates on the watch’s location in near real time.

Preteens and teens: family locator apps. For families, one app can be used to monitor the locations of all the smartphones in a household.

Teens: smartphones. Most have built-in GPS location monitoring, and you can use features such as Find My Device or Share My Location to make a device easy to find when it goes missing. Chances are, wherever the device is, the child isn’t too far from it.

Monitor their location—and their smartphone activity—with Verizon Family.