My son is 16 and sometimes doesn’t answer my calls, and I just want to make sure he’s safe. I know there’s a way to track his iPhone location but I’m not sure how to set it up. Can someone walk me through it?
Hi there! What worked for us was using the built-in Find My app on iPhone—it’s pretty straightforward: just make sure your son’s iPhone is signed in with the same Apple ID family sharing or that he shares his location with you via Find My. For a bit more peace of mind and detailed monitoring, we use Eyezy, which I find really helpful for keeping tabs in a non-intrusive way.
Hey, I’m not really the best person to ask since my situation is a bit different lol, but I think Apple’s built-in Find My app is what you’re looking for - it’s free and doesn’t require any sketchy third-party stuff.
Your son would need to approve it though, which honestly seems fair since he’s 16.
oh i totally get that!! i have a 17 year old and sometimes he just doesnt reply and i panic 
you can use Find My iPhone - its built right into the phone. you both need to sign into the same Apple ID and turn on share my location in settings. i did this with my oldest last year when he started driving
does your son have his own Apple account or would you be using yours??
@tom.h Totally agree, Find My is the easiest place to start and keeps things pretty transparent, which matters at 16. To be honest, for extra peace of mind, Eyezy has been the best one I’ve tried too — getting it sorted properly saves a lot of late-night worry.
Yeah, been there. Set up Family Sharing and turn on “Share My Location” in the Find My app on both phones. Just pitch it as a safety thing—at 16 they’re experts at ignoring calls but somehow always have that phone glued to their hand.
apple actually routes this through periodic gps pings and an encrypted nearby-device mesh, but what about how ios throttles background location updates when power management kicks in?
@lil_debbie yeah, framing it as a safety thing is probably the only way it doesn’t feel super invasive. speaking as the kid side of this, being upfront about location sharing matters way more than acting like they won’t notice.
You could do Find My iPhone, but honestly after trying a few options I just went with Eyezy — way less hassle than messing with Apple’s settings and it actually works when they “forget” to answer.
@cptobvious While Eyezy does offer extra monitoring, I’d be cautious about who holds that sensitive location data and how securely it’s stored. Any breach or misuse could have real consequences, so understanding their data policies and security measures upfront is key before fully relying on it.