Anyone use a kid tracker GPS watch/phone?

[K_W]

Strange. You can’t call 911 on it since not 7 digit

Program in the non emergency number, they will transfer to 911.

 

[hoosierdoc]

Program in the non emergency number, they will transfer to 911.

I thought of that if they are local. I wonder if it will still geo locate

 

[tsilveus]

We just started using life360 app. It allows us to "track" him on our phones. It shows us where he is and how much battery life is on it. Plus it alerts you when he comes home. Obviously, it only works if he has his phone on him, but in the last three years (he's 15), I have not seen him without his phone. Ever.

 

[K_W]

I thought of that if they are local. I wonder if it will still geo locate

Non-E numbers are specific to the locality... program any local Non-E numbers for cities they go to as "Indianapolis Police", "Carmel Police", "Avon police" ect...

 

[K_W]

We just started using life360 app. It allows us to "track" him on our phones. It shows us where he is and how much battery life is on it. Plus it alerts you when he comes home. Obviously, it only works if he has his phone on him, but in the last three years (he's 15), I have not seen him without his phone. Ever.

Life360 has been great for my wife and I... she has medical issues and is bad with directions so we have had a locator on her phone for several years. We switched to Life360 last fall. It geo-fences, locates, tracks, and saves the last 2 days travels for free.

 

[hoosierdoc]

We picked up two Gizmo Gadgets today from Verizon. They told me wrong on pricing, it was about $17/line x 2. Initially quoted about $15/mo combined. Oh well. The screen is much bigger than an Apple Watch which is surprising. Kids have small fingers and good eyes

 

[d.kaufman]

We picked up two Gizmo Gadgets today from Verizon. They told me wrong on pricing, it was about $17/line x 2. Initially quoted about $15/mo combined. Oh well. The screen is much bigger than an Apple Watch which is surprising. Kids have small fingers and good eyes

Does that include the watches in that pricing per month. We only pay $5 per month for our daughters.

 

[hoosierdoc]

Does that include the watches in that pricing per month. We only pay $5 per month for our daughters.

No we bought them outright. Do you have service with Verizon already? We may change over now from att to save $$

 

[d.kaufman]

No we bought them outright. Do you have service with Verizon already? We may change over now from att to save $$

Thats probably what it is. We dont have Verizon but our middle daughter(24) does, so we put it on her account

 

[blackenedman]

I think you'll be happy with the gizmo gadget. It is a little big, but it doesn't seem to bother my son, and as I mentioned, it's quite durable.

He's pretty hard on everyday things, and he's worn it almost a year now, with no problems at all.

 

[JayPea]

You chose well and you will be happy with it. We did Gizmo gadget for our son from 8-10 and we all loved it. It's helpful to see where he is in the neighborhood and which kids house he is at. When I'm on the road i can basically tell which room of the house he's in! He's ten now and we just moved to one of our old iPhones with activation and Apple watch. Any chance you talked to a mom in a Carmel Verizon store yesterday about this?

 

[hoosierdoc]

We were in greenwood. Carmel is sooooo 1990s . Well, class of ‘96 to be precise

 

[JayPea]

Wife was returning an old phone to Verizon yesterday and told me she talked to some dad looking at the Gizmo watch while she was waiting. She recommended it to him. Don't live in Carmel, but the visit to Verizon was a way for her to break away from the kiddo's soccer camp!

 

[Thor]

No. If you can track them so can others. IMHO it's just better to know where your kids are and who they are with as opposed to being the helo parent who has no more control anyway. What are you going to do from the device? Nothing of value.

 

[hoosierdoc]

No. If you can track them so can others. IMHO it's just better to know where your kids are and who they are with as opposed to being the helo parent who has no more control anyway. What are you going to do from the device? Nothing of value.

Problem is kids don't always listen, people are evil, and parents are insecure.

"Nothing of value" disagreements:

1) Geofencing: get an alert if they leave the area you told them they can be in. This allows notification of abduction (granted, rare, but my wife was halfway pulled into a car as a child and it's a legit fear) or helping find them if lost
2) Auto answer: you can force it to pick up and you can listen in case they are not answering or unable to
3) Medical issues: my son has a seizure disorder, if he's somewhere playing and there's an issue the people with him will know how to get ahold of us
4) bidirectional texting: can send messages back and forth - who doesn't like to communicate with their kids?
5) phone calling: duh. And it's attached to them so they won't lose it, break it, drop it in a lake

those are probably the main ones. probably many more to list. Regarding other people tracking them, no different than having a phone. Meh.

 

[d.kaufman]

Problem is kids don't always listen, people are evil, and parents are insecure.

"Nothing of value" disagreements:

1) Geofencing: get an alert if they leave the area you told them they can be in. This allows notification of abduction (granted, rare, but my wife was halfway pulled into a car as a child and it's a legit fear) or helping find them if lost
2) Auto answer: you can force it to pick up and you can listen in case they are not answering or unable to
3) Medical issues: my son has a seizure disorder, if he's somewhere playing and there's an issue the people with him will know how to get ahold of us
4) bidirectional texting: can send messages back and forth - who doesn't like to communicate with their kids?
5) phone calling: duh. And it's attached to them so they won't lose it, break it, drop it in a lake

those are probably the main ones. probably many more to list. Regarding other people tracking them, no different than having a phone. Meh.

i agree and the other reason we got one for our daughter is she rides bus home from school but pickup is several blocks away. The bus tracking app rarely works so this allows us to know when to head to bus stop so either of us isnt sitting there for half hour.
Another reason i like it is, hypothetically speaking, there is a school shooting. They like to bus kids to other locations and this way i would know where she is at so i could go get her immediately. This is more of an afterthought, but is a benefit in my opinion.

Edit: another good reason for this over cell phone is they cant get into much trouble with this. Can only contact who you program into phone & no internet/social media for them to get into

 

[Thor]

Problem is kids don't always listen, people are evil, and parents are insecure.

"Nothing of value" disagreements:

1) Geofencing: get an alert if they leave the area you told them they can be in. This allows notification of abduction (granted, rare, but my wife was halfway pulled into a car as a child and it's a legit fear) or helping find them if lost
2) Auto answer: you can force it to pick up and you can listen in case they are not answering or unable to
3) Medical issues: my son has a seizure disorder, if he's somewhere playing and there's an issue the people with him will know how to get ahold of us
4) bidirectional texting: can send messages back and forth - who doesn't like to communicate with their kids?
5) phone calling: duh. And it's attached to them so they won't lose it, break it, drop it in a lake

those are probably the main ones. probably many more to list. Regarding other people tracking them, no different than having a phone. Meh.

And then I suppose you can call 911...none of those things do anything of value. They may start a process that leads to that but generally it will just be clues and evidence for the aftermath.

 

[hoosierdoc]

And then I suppose you can call 911...none of those things do anything of value. They may start a process that leads to that but generally it will just be clues and evidence for the aftermath.

Do you have kids?

 

[JayPea]

Do you have kids?

 

[Thor]

Yes.