Best app for tracking kids?

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  1. wintersg3

    wintersg3 Well-Known Member

    I need an app that will allow me to track my kids Moto Droid. Not just his current position but track where he has been as well. I need to be able to access this info from my Incredible or from a computer over the internet. Is there anything like this out there?

    I don't care if it costs a little $ as long as it works. It needs to be able to run without his noticing it.

    ColtsWalker and cdrom1028 like this.
  2. bradley975

    bradley975 Active Member

    I am looking for one as well. Any suggestions?
    bostoncab likes this.
  3. TheSultan

    TheSultan Well-Known Member

    wow. you want to use technology to spy on your kid??

    This reminds me when I was younger and my dad and I communicated through email, on the SAME COMPUTER.

    Talk to your kid man--you may not get a chance later in life. Be an adult, a father. Don't be a dictator who spies on his kid.
    paganompu, durps and britteva like this.
  4. wintersg3

    wintersg3 Well-Known Member

    Don't judge when you do not know the situation.
    ColtsWalker likes this.
  5. mikecoulter

    mikecoulter Well-Known Member

    Haha, I really hope it Is your kid... but in all seriousness, if it isn't to his knowledge, aren't you breaking some kind of law?
  6. TheSultan

    TheSultan Well-Known Member

    I'm not judging--if i were, i would've called you a coward.

    I'm saying--there is a better solution, and it's called parenting. (ok, maybe that was a little judgmental). And, this is coming from experience, my parents didn't want to have the open communication thing--they ended up with two teenagers who were a mess as a result.
  7. AZDroid

    AZDroid Well-Known Member

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  8. Mominator

    Mominator Well-Known Member

    Been Googling for you... Instamapper does tracking but I don't know if it can be hidden.
    wintersg3 likes this.
  9. HustlinDaily

    HustlinDaily Well-Known Member


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  10. wintersg3

    wintersg3 Well-Known Member

    You are making the assumption that I am a bad and/or lazy parent. you know nothing about me or my situation. So just to try to get a little help here I will give you some info. I have three boys, two of which are Eagle Scouts, do well in school and are very successful, due in part to my active role in their lives. The third has actually received more attention than the other two put together. He has made one poor choice after another despite my and his mother's best efforts(never divorced). He has been into drugs and other criminal behavior. We are making one last effort to turn him around before he turns 18 and can leave on his own. So now that I have shared all of that I think that it's only fair that you either withhold further judgments, or offer up your qualifications to be making said judgments. Communication only works when both parties are honest, and I need to know if he is being honest, as I have reason to believe he is not.

    As for the legality of what I want to do? In my state a minor child has no privacy rights from their parents, as the parents are legally liable for the child's behavior. Also I own the phone that I wish to track.

    Now maybe we can quit trying to judge whether or not I am a fit parent and get back to the purpose of this thread.
  11. admile3

    admile3 Well-Known Member

    Very well said. I feel that people are way too quick to jump on the judgmental train without knowing the full story. People think "Oh this person is just trying to be too overprotective/nosey" and spout off their own opinions without giving real thought to what might be going on, or why a solution like this might be needed.

    Unfortunately, I do not have any applications to recommend to you. However, I can certainly empathize to your concerns and I hope you are able to come up with a solution.
  12. wintersg3

    wintersg3 Well-Known Member

  13. inaz4sun

    inaz4sun Well-Known Member

    I am not sure if there are any unnoticed ones, but there are lots of ways to do it with a running app, or even those ones that will send you the location of the device with a text message to it.

    I will want to do something like this one day when my child is older. If there isn't some program specifically designed, I'll turn one on the phone and tell them if they turn it off they are grounded. :) A parent has the right, nay, obligation to know where their minor children are at all times.
    wintersg3 likes this.
  14. newjacksm

    newjacksm Well-Known Member

    I am pretty sure you can set up google lattitude on his phone. he will have to have location on at all times though for it to work. If he turns it off to E911, then you wont be able to see him.

    You will also need to have google lattitude on your phone and have him under your buddy list and everything. his face/name will pop under google maps, but this is if his location is set to on and not to E911.
    wintersg3 likes this.
  15. RetroDude

    RetroDude Well-Known Member

    Right im not being judgemental, and im sorry i cant offer any suggestions to apps. But you are contradicting yourself here, you say both parties need to be honest. Yet you want to spy on him, i agree with one of the above posters who said that you should install one of the other apps, and have a discussion with your child about it, asking them not telling them, to keep it on at all times.
  16. phositadc

    phositadc Well-Known Member

    Nice. I notice TheSultan and other people quick to criticize quickly shut up after this was posted.
    wintersg3 likes this.
  17. wintersg3

    wintersg3 Well-Known Member

    This is an extreme situation, not just casual disobedience. Both the quality and existence of his life are on the line. Your advice would be great if this was the beginning of his trouble(We've been having discussions for years), but this situation is much farther along than that.

    I am to the point of trust, but verify.
  18. wintersg3

    wintersg3 Well-Known Member

    I've got to ask the question since so many think communication is the answer here. What do you do when communication fails? Repeatedly, for years.

    I have followed advice for years now from other parents, therapists, cops, and the general public. It was only a couple of months ago that his DYS caseworker told me that it's not my "bad" parenting. I have two well adjusted, successful boys. They live in the same home, and go to the same school, and have the same opportunities as their brother, yet he is in trouble. Also he told me a "bad" parent would have given up a long time ago. He has NEVER worked with parents as involved as my wife and I. His mistakes are his own, not mine. I am far from perfect, but I'm still in there fighting for him after dealing with his problems for ten years now. If you have a similar situation I'll gladly listen to your advice, if not please save it cause you just don't understand. It is damn near impossible to help someone who doesn't want to be helped, but as a parent I can not give up, I have to do something.
  19. TheSultan

    TheSultan Well-Known Member

    I didn't exactly shut up, I went to lunch. Though I make every effort to read as much as possible, I do occasionally sign off this website and do other things. But, I'll welcome myself back to the thread.

    I WAS your kid (the bad one), at exactly his age. My brother ended up being even worse than I ever was and went to prison. If you're a concerned parent, and your kid is doing the kind of stuff you say he is, tracking him ain't gonna do much. If he's doing the stuff I did at that age, I assure you, you don't WANT to know where he is. I'm not gonna pretend I know how to be a parent, but I damn well know how to be a f*cked up kid.

    I'm sure parents think they can do things to keep their kids out of trouble--you can't--especially at that age. Tracking him won't do anything--except ROYALLY piss him off if he ever finds out. I'm sure there is nothing harder than watching your offspring screw up over and over, and I'm sorry you have to go through that, I am. It wasn't until much later that I was able to see what I put my folks through (nevermind even the rehab bills!).

    As for the legal stuff, it'd be interesting to see what a lawyer would say. For instance, if you were able to see his current location, and knew what he was doing, and that was illegal--would you then be implicated to being an accessory to the crime? I have no idea, but the whole discussion is an interesting one.

    BTW, why not just turn his phone off?? Make him get his own phone, start paying his bills, have something for a responsibility.

    I really didn't mean for this thread to get so far off track, and I realize it's most likely my fault that it did, so I apologize. In the interest of getting this back on track, I welcome any discussion in PM in regards to the "off topic" stuff.

    On Track: Google Latitude will work, but won't record where he's been, I believe that was one of the original requests.
    tinynipples likes this.
  20. dmcduck

    dmcduck Well-Known Member

    Winters3g - I totally understand your needs. I, too, am in a situation where I need to know where my ADD/ADHD child is - with his limited impulse control, I never know what might happen. TheSultan was the one to turn your need into a "spy mission". Stick to your guns.

    I would also recommend Lattitude as a possible solution. Best of luck.
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  21. Anonimac

    Anonimac Your mom goes to college. VIP Member

    The OP was asking for application advice not parenting advice or a lecture. This post's tone makes certain assumptions, however subtle, that are rude and unsubstantiated. Any further behavior like this will result in thread closure and infractions for problematic individuals. Fair warning...
  22. Rota

    Rota Well-Known Member

    Latitude would probably suffice. Also, Mobile Defense will show you a current location of a phone and allow you to interact with it through a browser. It erases itself from the app drawer after the initial setup so unless he checks his installed apps through the market or the applications menu he won't see it.
    wintersg3 likes this.
  23. Racerx2oo3

    Racerx2oo3 Member

    Many of Verizon's feature phones offer a service called Family Locator, it not clear whether or not the service will work on the higher end smart phones like the Droid.
    wintersg3 likes this.
  24. wintersg3

    wintersg3 Well-Known Member

    None of the smart phones are on the list of compatible phones for Family Locator.
  25. thekarens

    thekarens Well-Known Member

    That's too bad. Sprint has Family Locator and it works on all the phones. I have it on my Evo and no, I didn't tell my son either and I don't believe he knows I'm running it.

    I got the app because my son is a new driver and I wanted to check to make sure he arrived at his destinations safe and sound, but regardless, I think parents have every right and should spy on their kids once in awhile. Letting kids run around willy nilly without some boundaries and checking on them once in awhile is a recipe for disaster.
    red97xj and wintersg3 like this.
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