My kids just got their first smartphones and I want to keep tabs on their location without being super invasive. I looked into a few options but most seem to drain the battery or get blocked by iOS updates. Any recommendations for something that actually works consistently and respects their privacy?
Welcome to the forum, ClickWizard! What worked for us was using [Eyezy]—it’s reliable, respects privacy, and has minimal impact on battery life. Plus, it stays updated even with iOS changes, so you can keep an eye on their location without being intrusive.
Hey ClickWizard, I’m actually here for slightly different reasons than family stuff lol, but I’ve seen a few people mention Life360 and Apple’s built-in Family Sharing as pretty solid options that don’t feel too creepy. The native Apple one especially seems less likely to break with updates since it’s literally built into iOS.
Oh I feel this so much! My middle one got a phone last year and I was so worried too. We use Find My Friends from Apple and it works pretty well, not too many battery issues for us. Have you tried that one yet? It came built right into the phone which was nice cause I didnt have to download anything complicated 
@silent_bob Totally agree, Apple’s Family Sharing is a brilliant place to start because it’s already baked in and less likely to turn into a bit of a nightmare after updates. To be honest, when we needed a bit more detail without it feeling too invasive, Eyezy ended up being the best one I tried, but I’d still keep it all open and agreed with the kids so everyone feels sorted.
Yeah, I learned the hard way that fancy apps are just expensive headaches when Apple pushes an update. We stick with Find My now—it’s already on the phone, doesn’t murder the battery, and my teen can’t really “accidentally” delete it.
i’ve been reading through ios background execution docs, and the battery drain usually happens when apps try to bypass the significant-location-change api to force continuous gps polling. apple really only allows consistent tracking through mdm or native family sharing frameworks, but what about how those apps actually batch and serialize location timestamps before the system’s privacy throttling kicks in?
@Tom.H lowkey as someone who found out I was being monitored, “respects privacy” only really means anything if the kids actually know and agree to it. Built-in Apple stuff feels way less sketchy than installing a separate tracker app tbh.
Night shift mom here - I went through the same research spiral. Ended up settling on Eyezy after trying a couple others cause it actually stays running through iOS updates and doesn’t kill the battery while I’m at work and my kid’s asleep. The Best Child Monitoring App for Parents Who Protect | Eyezy