Cell phone tracking app?

[JTK]

Is there any readily available, reliable apps or software (preferably free) you can run on your smart phone to keep an eye on your kids smart phone activity? Something that will work with iphones and andriod. Doesn't matter if the kid knows it's there or not. We do use a GPS app in the family so we know everyone's whereabouts.

Been having a devil of a time with one of my teenagers. He has very limited access to his phone as is, like only when he's at his sports practice or at work. Still need to monitor.

Just wondering if anyone has experience with this.

 

[dubber09]

Kid who works isn't a kid anymore, treat them as responsible adult.
There only two known ways to get someone do what you want - either by forcing them or by convincing them, please try convincing first.

 

[rekit]

WHERE'S MY DROID

• Works well for Android. Free but we pay and can fire the camera front and back etc.

 

[maximus]

Kid who works isn't a kid anymore, treat them as responsible adult.
There only two known ways to get someone do what you want - either by forcing them or by convincing them, please try convincing first.

*rolls eyes*. You don’t known anything about this family’s situation. A teenager working at McDonalds is NOT the same as an adult with responsibilities and obligations. A parent is well within their rights to monitor their minor son/daughter. Kids are very naive and vulnerable.

 

[alarmguy]

*rolls eyes*. You don’t known anything about this family’s situation. A teenager working at McDonalds is NOT the same as an adult with responsibilities and obligations. A parent is well within their rights to monitor their minor son/daughter. Kids are very naive and vulnerable.

Exactly, a parent is within their rights pertaining to anything, that is why they are the parent and the child a dependent.
Once a child turns 18 they can become independent and move out. Then, at that time a parent is entitled to nothing.

Lets add one insignificant fact to this, if someone is giving you a free device, such as a smart phone, then you accept the restrictions and loss of freedom that goes with it until the day you can buy and pay for your own phone once your 18 or older.

Even if you are over 18, if you take something at no cost, you pay the price in whatever the person giving you the device or service wants.
Example of giving up things for free, and ok, here we go one last time and I am going to annoy 80% or more who are reading this.
80% or more people reading this thread give up there right to privacy and their location every minute of the day for free stuff on their Android phone, so if you think a parent has no right to monitor their child your NuTs because you allow some of the worlds largest companies to follow you are around all day long and build databases on you, on where you travel and what you buy. So who is kidding who. My god, simple stuff, more so with a child under 18.
But most over 18 allow corporations to monitor them ALL year long, 24 hours a day.
I dont mean to insult anyone's just speaking the truth, a child is entitled to nothing and 80% or more adults are monitored more then their kids by corporations in return for free services and have no problem with that. So just putting things in perspective for everyone.

(give me the password to your android gmail account and I can tell you exactly where you were this date and time 3 years ago, since its in your data)

 

[john_pifer]

You know, this thread actually really hits home for me, since my wife and I are expecting our first child.

So, how do you guys who have kids who are either at or approaching that age where they will start to become curious about things like porn, handle their Internet access, both on PCs and other devices with access to the Internet?

Do you use software on the access point, such as the wireless router, that blocks access to objectionable material?

How about on the smartphone/iPad? Apps that do the same thing?

I know how I was when I was an adolescent. If I was told NOT to do something, I immediately put that on the list of things I wanted to try.

There is just so much sick crap out there that can do permanent damage to children.

My sister and BIL have 2 boys - ages 8 and 6. Very early on, they made the mistake (well, my wife and I think it was a mistake) of pacifying the boys with devices (smartphones and iPads) at restaurants and in other situations (riding in the car). Now, they're hooked on those devices, and beg for them. Thankfully their parents do limit the time that they're allowed to use the devices, and make sure they get some exercise. But, the damage is done, because the boys (especially the older one) would just lie around and veg out on devices all day if they were allowed to.

The above is kind of a digression, but, still sort of related.

Anyway, the wife and I definitely want to do something different with our own kids. We'd much rather ours be occupied with books, than devices.

 

[PimTac]

You know, this thread actually really hits home for me, since my wife and I are expecting our first child.

So, how do you guys who have kids who are either at or approaching that age where they will start to become curious about things like porn, handle their Internet access, both on PCs and other devices with access to the Internet?

Do you use software on the access point, such as the wireless router, that blocks access to objectionable material?

How about on the smartphone/iPad? Apps that do the same thing?

I know how I was when I was an adolescent. If I was told NOT to do something, I immediately put that on the list of things I wanted to try.

There is just so much sick crap out there that can do permanent damage to children.

My sister and BIL have 2 boys - ages 8 and 6. Very early on, they made the mistake (well, my wife and I think it was a mistake) of pacifying the boys with devices (smartphones and iPads) at restaurants and in other situations (riding in the car). Now, they're hooked on those devices, and beg for them. Thankfully their parents do limit the time that they're allowed to use the devices, and make sure they get some exercise. But, the damage is done, because the boys (especially the older one) would just lie around and veg out on devices all day if they were allowed to.

The above is kind of a digression, but, still sort of related.

Anyway, the wife and I definitely want to do something different with our own kids. We'd much rather ours be occupied with books, than devices.

The reality is that devices are the books of today. There are lots of options on how you can control that as a parent. If you use Apple devices they have an extensive parental controls setting that does everything from what kids can access to how much time they spend on the device.

 

[KrisZ]

My two eldest are approaching the age where I really need to pay attention to their smartphone usage.

On an iOS device they already include something like this. It's called screen time. You can monitor how long the device is used, limit app usage time, or even data usage. You can choose which apps to limit and which ones to allow.
You can also specify downtime on the device.

 

[MoneyJohn]

The thread derailed pretty quickly.

What are you trying to find out, smartphone activity, or just location?

Just for location, you will find many apps for free but for tracking smartphone usage, like which apps do they use, how long etc. Bark is good. There is one more app that was suggested to us by the school but I am unable to recall the name at the moment. It's expensive than Bark but also tracks messages and stuff (it is like your phone is connected to theirs with something like TeamViewer, they don't even know that you can watch what they are doing on the phone in real-time).

 

[skyactiv]

Interesting read for those with children under 18 or parents to be:
https://raisingchildren.net.au/pre-...iour-questions-issues/disrespectful-behaviour

JTK, does your kid vape or use nicotine? If not, great. If he does, he is much more likely to experiment with drugs as a teen or even as a young adult.

 

[JTK]

I don't wish to go into details of my teenage children experiences, but thank you to all the BITOG dads out there who understand the struggle as a parent of teens.

I'm shocked at some of the other silly comments.

If I could offer two suggestion. Hold off as long as you can in supplying your minor child with a smart phone or any unsupervised internet access. It's a daunting task today, but what isn't.

 

[KrisZ]

@DemoFly, that's some mighty high horse you got there. Can you even see us peasants from all the way up?

 

[MoneyJohn]

@JTK Pls let us know what did you end up using.

 

[gregk24]

Kid who works isn't a kid anymore, treat them as responsible adult.
There only two known ways to get someone do what you want - either by forcing them or by convincing them, please try convincing first.

HAHAHAHA. Are you a parent?

 

[sloinker]

I get a report every month of where my phone has been. You can drill down to exact places and times. It is free and comes with spectrum on my Samsung S10+. I am discouraged about the small red oblong circle that is my life.

 

[JTK]

@JTK Pls let us know what did you end up using.

I never did find anything I liked that could track all cell phone activity, other than being a parent and limiting access to their phone and where they're allowed to use it. As a family, we all have an app called "360" that is a free GPS tracker. It's kind of handy. We've had that for a few years.

I get a report every month of where my phone has been. You can drill down to exact places and times. It is free and comes with spectrum on my Samsung S10+. I am discouraged about the small red oblong circle that is my life.

If we're talking physical location of the phone, That sounds like the 360 app I have. It's kind of nice.

Like I say, this really isn't the place for this kind of discussion, but most of my teenage boy woes I blame myself for. I typically work 60 hrs/week to keep us moving forward. Sometimes less, sometimes even more. Teenage boys need a father figure or strong male figure around or things can go south quickly. Everybody's situation varies of course.

 

[Silver]

Google offers all types of tracking if it's turned on, which by default it is for Android phones. Location, google searches, youtube history, etc. Then there's stuff like openDNS, etc.

 

[PandaBear]

So he is a teen who's already working at least part time job... What makes you think he will not buy another phone to bypass your censorship?

I think the point I'm trying to make is, you cannot control your kids 100% and one day they will be out of your reach. You need to use a method that let them understand their actions have reactions and consequences, instead of the "I'm watching you" approach.

My parents lock up the power supply of my nintendo when I was a kid, my solution is to buy a spare power supply from the store instead of screaming and fighting and kicking. Your kid will do the same thing if you are just trying to "lock away their nintendo power supply". IMO setting achievable goal and let them understand what to do or not to do is better.

Regarding to pornography, one day they will discover what it is, and you don't want them to have a shock and set free and experiment all of a sudden and get in trouble. Explain what is it and what it isn't, what is should be and what it shouldn't be, so they will understand (and hopefully agree with you). One day they will be an adult, and one day you will lose control, and hopefully they won't suddenly get into trouble.

 

[alarmguy]

I assume you know that any Android phone tracks everyplace the phone goes.
You can look up exactly where that phone was 2 years ago, 2 months ago, 2 days ago ect right down to the minute.
Google stores all that information in your gmail account, (assuming the phone is set up with your gmail and you know the password) it will even map it for you.

 

[Quattro Pete]

I assume you know that any Android phone tracks everyplace the phone goes.
You can look up exactly where that phone was 2 years ago, 2 months ago, 2 days ago ect right down to the minute.

Only if the phone's Location service is turned on. I keep mine off and only turn it on when I need to use the Nav function.

With that said, the carrier knows your whereabouts (roughly) just because the phone constantly communicates with nearby cell towers, and that's regardless if you use Android or iOS.