Submitted by Chad Shmukler on
Whether you're a parent of an existing iPhone owner, or you've recently decided to give in to your kid's incessant pleading for a new iPhone, you may find yourself wondering if you can leverage your son or daughter's shiny gift to keep tabs on him/her. The answer is that, yes, but you will need to convince them to give you the password to their Apple account, or accept your location requests through Find My Friends.
Now, before we go on, let's go over what we know about kids and parents. Kids, especially teenagers, are astoundingly moronic, impulse driven idiots that are typically completely ignorant of their own mortality who spend their time traveling in packs looking for opportunities to trump each other's stupidity. Parents, especially American ones, are overwhelmingly paranoid, obsessive, overbearing blowhards that misidentify harmless coming of age behavior and experiences as threats to their child's well being while ignoring real threats to their mental and physical health such as television and run-amok consumerism.
The message being conveyed by that last paragraph? Kids, don't do anything to fan the flames of your parent's already smoldering desire to play big brother in your life. Parents, use the below knowledge wisely: check on your kids when you're worried they're in real danger, don't destroy their privacy and their trust in you.
How to Use Find My iPhone
Find My iPhone is a great option to track your child. If you know their login information for iCloud.com you can track their device from your web browser or from the Find My iPhone app on your own iPhone or iPad. While the service if mostly for finding stolen or lost devices, it will provide a map and blue dot representing your child's location, provided they have their iPhone on them.To enable Find My iPhone on your child's device, or your own, open the Settings app on the device you want to track, then tap the iCloud tab. Enter the Apple ID password for that device, then tap the Find My iPhone tab and finally tap the Find My iPhone slider so it is ON/GREEN.
Newest iPhone FAQs
Once Find My iPhone is turned on you can then track the device from iCloud.com or the Find My iPhone app by logging in with the Apple ID and password assigned to the device you're trying to locate.
Enabling Find My iPhone on any device is recommended in case it ever gets lost or stolen, however, it won't inform you that it's hiding under a pile of dirty laundry in your child's bedroom. The service only gives a basic location based on GPS.
How to use Find My Friends
Using the Find My Friends app to locate your child requires cooperation from your child. They need to have AirDrop enabled and accept your request to share their location. It may be easier just to text them and ask them to share their location by following these instructions.
To enable AirDrop, just swipe up from the bottom if your Home screen to open Control Center, then tap the AirDrop bubble and select Contacts Only.
Once AirDrop is enabled, you can then send your child a share location request by following these instructions. Remember, if your device is using a version of iOS 8 or earlier you will need to install the app on your device from the App Store.
- Open Find My Friends and tap Add.
- Select a person from the list or type their name in the To: bar.
- Tap Done to send the request.
Share My Location
Apple made Find My Friends basically obsolete by adding the ability to share your location with other iPhone users through the messages app. iOS users running iOS 8.0 or later can share their location once, for an hour or indefinitely. This is a better solution than Find My Friends since it doesn't require AirDrop or that a person be nearby. You can learn how to share your location here.
There has to be some understanding between you and your child that you will be tracking their location when you purchase them an iPhone. All of these services can be turned off with the flip of a switch or even ignored.
Comments
Boomerang replied on Permalink
"Kids, especially teenagers, are astoundingly moronic, impulse driven idiots that are typically completely ignorant of their own mortality who spend their time traveling in packs looking for opportunities to trump each others stupidity. Parents, especially American ones, are overwhelmingly paranoid, obsessive, overbearing blowhards that misidentify harmless coming of age behavior and experiences as threats to their child's well being while ignoring real threats to their mental and physical health such as television and run-amok consumerism."
Well spoken, sir. Well spoken indeed. You got kids?
Chris replied on Permalink
"Especially Americans"...really? Obviously you didn't grow up, live in, or visit any of the mid west. Try Albuquerque where the high school drop out rate is hovering at about 50%. I'm sure the parents of those kids really fit your ignorant description. Thanks for the vote of confidence though.
Wilson replied on Permalink
No he doesn't have any children that is why he is saying these things. He must be a psychologist too! All I know is with the world that it is today being concerned about the your children is a plus more than a negative. Yeah and that American thing well up you bloody ass.
Maria11211 replied on Permalink
If you want to know what your partners are upto behind you , are you suspicious of any cheating moves from your partner ? Will you like to monitor calls , texts , medias , real time location ? then you should reach cybershadow76 ATgmail . com . He helped me twice .
Parent replied on Permalink
Why do parents buy their kids iphones? My kid is probably not getting the latest hot ANYTHING. I aim to keep her safe, not deprive of all conveniences, and still leave some things that she wants within her ability to earn for herself. If the only thing that young adults want-but-can't-easily-afford are way out of reach to them, then they won't even try and they might become accustomed to being dependent for everything they want. My parenting advice: leave most of the really good stuff just out of reach, and then help them in their efforts to get it themselves if that is what they show that they really want.
Anonymous replied on Permalink
You're a tool bag. It's one way or the other for you. You the dumb ass blowhard the other guy was referring to. If you have great kids, do incredible in school by working their asses off, are respectable to you and others, there's nothing in the world you shouldn't try to do for them. You teach as you go, not try to deprive them. The same mentality was forced upon a neighbors little girl and she came to our house and stole what she wanted. Great kid, misguided parent. Wake up and know that the time your kids invest in the books and sports is just as hard and more than likely harder than your nine to five. Plus, they already have it tough dealing with just growing up. Be a good parent, support your kids in what's important, and as the succeed reward the he'll out of them. Otherwise your kid is going to learn how to rake leaves, mow yards, and flip burgers for that iPhone, new purse, or cheap apartment just to get away from you. You sound like the shmuck that puts everything on your kids shoulders. They have enough to worry about. When are they supposed to be kids if they are out trying to earn what in reality you're either to greedy to give or unable to provide. Support man. Support and watch them shine. Hell you'd probably crumble taking half my daughters AP load and and would have to skip her 4 day a week cheer practice, 2 day a week play practice, and have to skip out on all of her One Tree Hill episodes just to cut mustard.
Anonymous replied on Permalink
obviously you are an idiot. I'm not even going to try to reason with you because I know your kind and it's sad.
Anonymous replied on Permalink
You're a tool bag. It's one way or the other for you. You the dumb ass blowhard the other guy was referring to. If you have great kids, do incredible in school by working their asses off, are respectable to you and others, there's nothing in the world you shouldn't try to do for them. You teach as you go, not try to deprive them. The same mentality was forced upon a neighbors little girl and she came to our house and stole what she wanted. Great kid, misguided parent. Wake up and know that the time your kids invest in the books and sports is just as hard and more than likely harder than your nine to five. Plus, they already have it tough dealing with just growing up. Be a good parent, support your kids in what's important, and as the succeed reward the he'll out of them. Otherwise your kid is going to learn how to rake leaves, mow yards, and flip burgers for that iPhone, new purse, or cheap apartment just to get away from you. You sound like the shmuck that puts everything on your kids shoulders. They have enough to worry about. When are they supposed to be kids if they are out trying to earn what in reality you're either to greedy to give or unable to provide. Support man. Support and watch them shine. Hell you'd probably crumble taking half my daughters AP load and and would have to skip her 4 day a week cheer practice, 2 day a week play practice, and have to skip out on all of her One Tree Hill episodes just to cut mustard.
Anonymous replied on Permalink
You're saving yourself a lot of trouble with the way those things are stolen on high school campuses. I know, I work on one. We have kids who keep their eyes out for iPhone owners who've turned their back on their phone for a second. That's all it takes. Then, all you have to do is text a friend to be by the classroom door, pass the phone to him, and it's gone. The teacher can call security, have everyone turned upside down, given a good shake, and nothing, no iPhone, already gone. The kids will turn off the phone so iCloud can't track the phone until it's safe to break into the thing. They're very savy, especially where I work. You have organized gangs, mostly Hispanic and African-American. One of my girls came to school flying a red bandana out of her back pocket. Someone in her crew will know the tricks.
Anonymous replied on Permalink
Look narrow minded.My kid goes to school where its all WHITE and they steal just da same.If not worse.Money,phones,etc.Theft has no color.
Grant replied on Permalink
Ahhahahahahaahaaaaaaa. Haahahahaahahaha. hahahahaahaha. Yeah, theft is color blind. That's a good one.
Theresa replied on Permalink
My advice is totally opposite yours i give mine everything of the latest then they head into adulthood expecting inly the best and they will always get it, your child will never have anything as shes grown up never having anything and thats what she will expect of herself as an adult. No wonder so many people have issues with parenting like yours.
Anonymous replied on Permalink
MobileMe is now converting to iCloud. While iCloud still offers the "find my device" feature, the PROBLEM, as I see it, is that if you want to have the ability to track your teenager SECRETLY, it's impossible. Even if they can't disable the location feature because you've restricted it (and now you can just choose "don't allow changes" instead of turning location off), the iCloud settings are COMPLETELY accessible in the child's phone. And if you using your OWN iCloud account, they can simply turn on any of the other things (such as mail, calendar, contacts, documents/data), as well!! WTF?! I cannot find a way to track an iPhone without that iPhone user knowing, which is practically useless. "Hey kid, as you can obviously tell in your phone settings, I'm tracking your phone. If they are good kids, they will feel bad and whine (what's the point of letting them know and creating trust/independence issues in their mind if you don't have to?). And if they are bad kids, they will just either leave the phone somewhere (like in their bedroom when they sneak out) or disable the find my F-ing phone feature right in the god damn iCloud setting on their own F-ing phone. SO frustrating. And for anyone who thinks tracking your child's whereabouts secretly is bad, do me a favor please and shut up, spare me your useless opinions and fuck off.
Anonymous replied on Permalink
Wow, angry much? Glad I am not your kid.
Anonymous replied on Permalink
well i agree with angry cos im sick off the do gooders allowing my child to be out there with money and unprotected 16 isnt old enough to know enough these days u got to protect them however you can and its frustrating
Anonymous replied on Permalink
You're going to have to use the spy software for cheating spouses. You don't need the whole package, only the gps part, unless you want to spy on your kids text messages and phone calls.
I agree with the idea that tracking your kid is okay. They're not adults. They don't have all of the rights of adults and guess which part of the brain neuroscientists say doesn't mature until around the age of 23? The decision center. Explains a lot about teenagers. Don't forget to be parents of children. They're not adults yet. They don't have the life experience or the maturity yet of one and working at a school I see parents who have the laissez faire approach all the time who have kids who are flushing their futures down the toilet.
Anonymous replied on Permalink
It just frustrates me because I'm a seventeen year old straight A student, I've hardly gotten into any trouble with my parents in my entire life, and I always check in with my parents to let them know that I've safely got where I am going, yet they STILL insist on gps tracking me. I thought that my god behavior would've earned me some privacy but evidently that's not the case.
Of course my father came to find that I had driven out of my way a few minutes to give a friend a ride to school when he was desperate after missing a school bus, and now I'm in shit loads of trouble. I really don't feel like I did such a horrible thing but now I've "betrayed his trust"
Anonymous replied on Permalink
It just frustrates me because I'm a seventeen year old straight A student, I've hardly gotten into any trouble with my parents in my entire life, and I always check in with my parents to let them know that I've safely got where I am going, yet they STILL insist on gps tracking me. I thought that my god behavior would've earned me some privacy but evidently that's not the case.
Of course my father came to find that I had driven out of my way a few minutes to give a friend a ride to school when he was desperate after missing a school bus, and now I'm in shit loads of trouble. I really don't feel like I did such a horrible thing but now I've "betrayed his trust"
Verilocation replied on Permalink
Really useful article on GPS Tracking
Steve replied on Permalink
Parents can’t keep their kids in their sights all of the time, Child safety is constantly on every parent’s mind. Knowing your child’s location is key to knowing that your kids are safe.
Mapimo is a very handy App to locate your child for a specified amount of time. You can track your children or anyone by just giving a missed call to their mobiles.
You can download application from https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.omkar.map&hl=en
Sons replied on Permalink
This is a great app. I am using this app to locate my (aged about 95 yeas) grandfather. It is Awesome.
http://mapimoapp.com/
Anonymous replied on Permalink
I text my dad when I get where I am going so he knows I am safe. I just came to find that regardless of this, he's STILL been gps tracking where I am going. I felt like I would've earned his trust but evidently I did not. This is creating a real rift between us.
Sonalee replied on Permalink
I am using Mapimoapp Location tracking Android application to track the location of my grand fater ( aged about 95). Seriously This application is helping me a lot to find my grandpa's location. This is Awesome location tracking application.
http://mapimoapp.com/
American Matthew replied on Permalink
I'm just baffled by the author's blatant ruthless disdain for America. I don't wish this Chad Shmukler any harm. He already has to live with the name CHAD SHMUKLER. But really, I hope this guy died of something stupid like pneumonia in the four years since this article has been written.
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Jane replied on Permalink
My kids are all teens and they all have a tendency of pushing the limits. If you tell them not to go somewhere, they'll go and lie. Tell them not to do something, they'll do it and lie. I found 1TopSpy after a long search for something that could help me. It's now installed on all the iPhone sets my kids use. I'd recommend it to other parents who aren't able to take out a lot of time for their kids.
I think it's easier and better than!
Ilia Tslaf replied on Permalink
Here is my story I have two kids both are teens and they all have a trend of going ahead the limits and it’s hard to tell where they are and what they are doing. I found Notify app after a long search for something that could help me. It's now installed on all the iPhone sets my kids use. I'd nominate it to other parents who aren't able to take out a lot of time for their kids. The app simply tracks phones battery and sends SMS notification (text) with last known location when phone runs out of battery. You can download it by following this link: https://itunes.apple.com/app/notify-battery-level-tracker/id947331406
angie replied on Permalink
To the above person who " keeps" the " good stuff" out of reach from her children. I get your point there isnt anything wrong with teaching them work ethics. Now for the commenter who believes" the neighbor girl stole" woah its not the parents fault this kid is a thief. What right does a child have to steal just because they're spoiled whining didnt get them the latest greatest ??. Kids push and even the best well mannered kid is prone to peer pressure and can wind up in a bad situation fast. track them if you feel safer but be honest and tell them up front. they wont like it but if your doing your job as a parent then they wont try to hide what they shouldnt be doing.
Kevin hardin replied on Permalink
Would like to know where my daughter is at all times just to be safe