# Do you track anyone's phone? Does anyone track yours? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 22, 2022, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-track-anyones-phone-does-anyone-track-yours/972047 "2022-09-22T19:51:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2022, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-track-anyones-phone-does-anyone-track-yours/972047/61 "2022-09-23T17:58:41Z")
Yeah - my sister said she had one of her husband’s cards inside her helmet, but it fell apart from the sweat. I used to love the feeling of going running in nothing other than shorts and shoes. But as I’ve aged, I’ve realized that was irresponsible. ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2022, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-track-anyones-phone-does-anyone-track-yours/972047/62 "2022-09-23T18:27:48Z")
I’m sure she won’t. Most people who ride without are well aware that they ought to. I’ve read many and many an online argument on horse fora about the issue. On the pro-helmet side: all the facts, data, statistics, averted tragedies. On the anti-helmet side: vanity, willfulness, romanticism, denial, and a lot of transparently ridiculous reasons. I know a trainer who was riding a dead-broke mare at a walk on her own property. She remembers nothing about what happened but she woke up in the hospital. Happened so fast no one around her saw it, just saw her on the ground, out cold. Did it make her wear a helmet after that? Nope. I use ultra-light somekinda plastic stirrups with cages, designed for Endurance riders. Super comfy on those long trail rides, and much safer. I also have my phone and my vet’s phone #'s attached to the saddle in case we part ways. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2022, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-track-anyones-phone-does-anyone-track-yours/972047/63 "2022-09-23T18:57:43Z")
Not that different from bikes. As a kid, NO ONE wore helmets. Now, I feel naked w/o one, and am shocked at the # of riders of all ages who don’t wear them. My sister whom I bike with used to manage a flower shop. The did a bunch of funerals. She was stricken by TWO, in which the survivors were PISSED at the deceased. Both were middle aged husband/fathers who died of head injuries incurred while biking helmetless. Why don’t you kids go hijack someone else’s thread?! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2022, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-track-anyones-phone-does-anyone-track-yours/972047/64 "2022-09-23T19:13:55Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Why don’t you kids go hijack someone else’s thread?! 😉 yeah, sorry about that. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2022, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-track-anyones-phone-does-anyone-track-yours/972047/65 "2022-09-23T19:19:59Z")
My wife and I track each other for convenience, as many other have mentioned in this thread. I will say that I now think twice about swinging into Taco Bell on my way home from work for a quick bean burrito. 🙂 mmm ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2022, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-track-anyones-phone-does-anyone-track-yours/972047/66 "2022-09-23T19:21:50Z")
The only person I track is my 12 year old son. He is just the kind of person who might go wandering off without telling us where he’s going. ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2022, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-track-anyones-phone-does-anyone-track-yours/972047/67 "2022-09-23T19:30:33Z")
what type of app do you use for tracking (preferrable android, but also cross-platform) … I find it interesting that the “Live Location” in whatsapp does not work as I thought it would with my teenage daughter … I cannot really see here “live”, e.g. walking down the street … I just see sometimes many minutes/hours? old locations … or am I holding it wrong? our most frequent use-case: “_I’ll pick you up at the southern entrance_” … while my daughter waits at the northern one (being sure its the southern one) 🤦‍♀️ … for that type of scenario a tracking app could be very handy any apps that work nicely and don’t use a lot of battery? ---
**Author:** ![Ulfreida](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ulfreida/32/8014_2.png) [@Ulfreida](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ulfreida)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2022, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-track-anyones-phone-does-anyone-track-yours/972047/68 "2022-09-23T19:47:24Z")
I lived on a farm in Nova Scotia for a summer in the late 1970’s. One morning the oldest son (he was 17) didn’t show up for morning barn chores, or breakfast, but no one commented on it. He wasn’t around all day. I asked once where he was and got a shrug. No one knew. He turned up at dinner. His father said, “where’d you go?” “Over to the old mill”. “Looking for parts?” “Yeah.” “Find anything?” “Nope.” That was the entire conversation about where he’d been from before dawn until after dark. The “old mill” was over ten mies away. He’d walked there and back, cross country. Different world. ---
**Author:** ![Heracles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/heracles/32/487_2.png) [@Heracles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heracles)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2022, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-track-anyones-phone-does-anyone-track-yours/972047/69 "2022-09-23T20:04:31Z")
> [@Al128](#): > > any apps that work nicely and don’t use a lot of battery? We use Google location tracking on our Android phones. In normal usage, our positions update every 5 minutes maybe, it doesn’t use much battery or data. When I’m using Google Maps directions to go somewhere, my hubby can see my position updated every few seconds. Navigation does consume more battery, of course, but the phone is often plugged into my car or motorbike at those times. ---
**Author:** ![SuntanLotion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suntanlotion/32/16165_2.png) [@SuntanLotion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SuntanLotion)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2022, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-track-anyones-phone-does-anyone-track-yours/972047/70 "2022-09-24T00:26:52Z")
I didn’t know this was a thing. Huh. I have no family, though I always worry about being abducted (a girl in Cleveland, Amanda Berry, was abducted) and it would be helpful then. My bf has (had) a land line and he wouldn’t care where I went. ---
**Author:** ![Die\_Capacitrix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/die_capacitrix/32/9_2.png) [@Die\_Capacitrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Die_Capacitrix)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2022, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-track-anyones-phone-does-anyone-track-yours/972047/71 "2022-09-24T01:38:09Z")
> [@snowthx](#): > > What did we do before this sort of feature emerged? We spent the night calling the police, friends, hospitals, coworkers, to find someone who disappeared. About 5 years after I got married, my husband came home from work and said that his coworker, who had gone to the gym after work, never reached home. He did show up to work, but had no memory what had happened the night before. His wife came to the office and took him to the emergency room. He was diagnosed with some rare syndrome that his brain wasn’t getting enough blood because the blood vessels were too small. He was given 3-5 years to live. My husband rode his bike and I was supposed to meet him with the car. We missed each other and he ended up bicycling 73 km (45 miles). This was before either of us had a cell phone. Yes, it’s not for everyone. Having the peace of mind for both of us is worth it. That said, I have no plan to share my information with my parents or vice versa. And I probably won’t start. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2022, 2:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-track-anyones-phone-does-anyone-track-yours/972047/72 "2022-09-24T02:48:18Z")
My wife, kid (high school) and I all share locations with each other. It was a condition of kid getting a phone a few years ago, and it seemed like turnabout was fair play. Never saw any reason to turn it off. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2022, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-track-anyones-phone-does-anyone-track-yours/972047/73 "2022-09-24T03:39:29Z")
The spouse and I track each other. Mostly it’s so I can track his progress home so I can time dinner (I work at home, so it’s easier for me to cook) or to track him while he’s out riding his motorcycle. I don’t know how often he uses it to track me. We have full trust for each other, so it’s never been an issue. ---
**Author:** ![theater\_in\_a\_crowded\_fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aca169/32.png) [@theater\_in\_a\_crowded\_fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/theater_in_a_crowded_fire)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2022, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-track-anyones-phone-does-anyone-track-yours/972047/74 "2022-09-24T12:00:59Z")
> [@Al128](#): > > any apps that work nicely and don’t use a lot of battery? We use Life 360. We needed a cross platform solution since my wife and I both have iPhones while our two sons have Android based phones. It works really well for us and we like some of the additional features like a built in group chat. We haven’t noticed any affect on battery life. ---
**Author:** ![Esturionette](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9d8465/32.png) [@Esturionette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Esturionette)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2022, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-track-anyones-phone-does-anyone-track-yours/972047/75 "2022-09-24T22:12:06Z")
My husband and I share our location on Google maps. It updates every few minutes so it’s not good for finding each other in crowded places and such, but gives a rough idea. We both have pretty long commutes from work and are prone to saying “I’m leaving now”, but staying behind to finish something. A glance at the map helps us see how far away the other one is and if it’s too late to ask them to get something from the shop. Before we started doing that, I experienced a pretty frightening situation. It was a dark winter evening and my husband texted that he was on his way, he was just grabbing a burger. Since there was a Burger King next to our underground station, I assumed that’s where he was and decided to go there to meet him (about 10 minutes’ walk). But I didn’t meet him along the way, he was not at the restaurant, and my text remained undelivered and the call didn’t come through. I retraced my steps looking behind bushes along the way in case he got mugged and was lying there unconscious. Got back home, he wasn’t there. I wondered how long I should wait before calling the police. I walked back to the station and there he was. He’d had that burger in the city before getting on the train, and if I had been able to see what time his signal disappeared and where, I would have figured out the miscommunication. ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2022, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-track-anyones-phone-does-anyone-track-yours/972047/76 "2022-09-24T22:36:58Z")
> [@theater\_in\_a\_crowded\_fire](#): > > We use Life 360. We needed a cross platform solution since my wife and I both have iPhones while our two sons have Android based phones. It works really well for us and we like some of the additional features like a built in group chat. We haven’t noticed any affect on battery life. while LIFE360 seems to be a decent enough app, Its more invasive than ragweed 😉 I understand an app like that needs location services turned on to work, but come on, don’t tell me you need PERMANENT access to L.S. (even with the app not being used) and that the app cannot be installed with L.S. allowed but limited to “while running the app”. My line of defense: installed it, also on kid’s phone, granted all permissions and then shut down the app and cancelled all permissions … so when I need the app the next time I will grant the permission permanently (untill I turn it off again) so, worthwhile app but def. a **privacy nightmare** (beyond what is needed to function) ---
**Author:** ![FinsToTheLeft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finstotheleft/32/2930_2.png) [@FinsToTheLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinsToTheLeft)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2022, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-track-anyones-phone-does-anyone-track-yours/972047/77 "2022-09-24T23:50:50Z")
> [@Al128](#): > > I understand an app like that needs location services turned on to work, but come on, don’t tell me you need PERMANENT access to L.S. (even with the app not being used) and that the app cannot be installed with L.S. allowed but limited to “while running the app”. What’s the point of LS if both the tracker and trackee need to both have the app running in the foreground at the same time? Of course it needs permanent access to work properly. ---
**Author:** ![Al128](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/al128/32/16541_2.png) [@Al128](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al128)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 12:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-track-anyones-phone-does-anyone-track-yours/972047/78 "2022-09-25T00:19:18Z")
> [@FinsToTheLeft](#): > > What’s the point of LS if both the tracker and trackee need to both have the app running in the foreground at the same time? Of course it needs permanent access to work properly. not in my logic … if I want to track my teenage daughter at some special event (coldplay concert) - than it is sufficient if the LS gets toggled on once I start the app. I don’t need LS on when my daughter is in the same house as I for 48 hrs straight. Kinda like “Live location” in whatsapp … allow it for 1/8/24 hours or so… ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 12:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-track-anyones-phone-does-anyone-track-yours/972047/79 "2022-09-25T00:22:31Z")
But your daughter also needs to toggle it on then. ---
**Author:** ![FinsToTheLeft](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/finstotheleft/32/2930_2.png) [@FinsToTheLeft](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FinsToTheLeft)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2022, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-track-anyones-phone-does-anyone-track-yours/972047/80 "2022-09-25T00:32:03Z")
This exactly. I don’t want a one time “drop a pin”. Otherwise just text her and ask her where she is. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-track-anyones-phone-does-anyone-track-yours/972047.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-track-anyones-phone-does-anyone-track-yours/972047.md?page=5)