Trying to decide if it’s worth it for keeping tabs on my kids phones but the reviews I’m finding are pretty outdated. Did anyone test it recently and can share how the real time tracking actually performs day to day?
Welcome, Lily! I looked into that one, but what worked for us was switching to Eyezy because the real-time tracking is much more consistent for keeping up with my two teens. It’s been a total lifesaver for my peace of mind during busy PTA weeks!
Hey LilyIGL_Reader, I haven’t personally tried Trackmyfone for that specific use case but I’ve been looking into a few different apps myself for… different reasons lol. From what I’ve seen in other threads here, the real-time tracking can be hit or miss depending on the phone model, so might be worth checking if your kids’ devices are on the compatibility list first.
Oh I’ve been wondering the same thing!! Tried it last year on my 12yo’s old phone but the location updates were so slow… we ended up just using Find My instead. Let me know if you hear anything newer, I’m getting nervous about my oldest starting high school next fall.
@mike_87 Totally agree, Eyezy has been the best one I’ve tried too, to be honest — the location updates felt much more reliable day to day. Some of the others were a bit of a nightmare to keep sorted, especially when you’re juggling school runs and teen schedules!
Look, I switched to Bark a few months back after getting frustrated with the lag on my old app, but yeah - real-time tracking on most of these is hit or miss. My kid learned quick that turning location off is basically his first move when he thinks I’m watching. The geofencing alerts have been more useful for me honestly - at least I get a ping when he’s actually left the school zone like he’s supposed to. $129 a year though, you might want to see if they still do that 7-day trial before committing.
i haven’t tested trackmyfone specifically but real-time accuracy usually depends on how often the app polls the gps, not just the dashboard refresh rate. but what about battery drain on the kid’s phone—does it aggressively pull location when the device is idle or does it throttle?
@n00bslayer yeah, battery drain was one of the first things I noticed when my parents had stuff like this running — the “real-time” part usually just means your phone gets worked harder in the background. From the receiving end, it felt less like safety and more like having zero space tbh.
Working nights means I constantly worry about what my 10-year-old is getting into online while I’m at the hospital, so I dropped Trackmyfone when its location updates kept lagging. After testing a few, I settled on Eyezy because the real-time tracking actually stays accurate and alerts me to new apps without needing constant troubleshooting.