Family GPS Tracker – 5 Reasons to Consider One

family gps locator app

Many parents wonder if they should adopt a family GPS tracker app or service. There are many benefits to using a Family GPS Tracker like MamaBear, but we know parents can always use a little more justification.

Here are the top five reasons why our customers use a family GPS tracker like MamaBear, in addition to a few tips on what separates the better family GPS tracker apps.

1. Worry Less

The first and most obvious benefit of a family GPS tracker app is the way it provides parents peace of mind. By easily knowing where your kids are without having to call, parents can get the information they need to ease some anxiety. You may even look like less of a nag by not interrupting social hang out time to simply check in with your kids.

2. Get to Your Kids Quickly

A family GPS tracker app allows parents to know where their kids are in the case of an emergency, an unexpected or uncomfortable circumstance. A parent can start heading toward their child’s location immediately.

3. Know if They Go Somewhere They Shouldn’t

 One very basic function of a family GPS tracker app is letting parents know if a child has strayed from established boundaries to places that could be dangerous. A family GPS tracker with alerts is particularly useful for accountability.

4. Know When They Leave

A good family GPS tracker can also let you know when your kids have left a location. For instance, with MamaBear, parents can set the Drop-Off alert to notify them when their child leaves their current location.

5. Give Them an Emergency Lifeline

One of the most important components of a family GPS tracker app is protecting the kids. GPS apps that give kids an easy panic button to inform parents that there is an emergency, and they need help are by far the best options.

When you are looking for a family GPS tracker, you should look for a few features. Accuracy is important; being able to track your kid’s as close to accurate location is half the point, as is continuous tracking without the app closing or having intermittent location tracking times. A minimal cost to battery life is also important though most all location services app have some affect on battery life. Easy to view maps, detailed views and historical views are all good qualities in an app. Apps that provide parental alerts are usually the best saving parents time from having to always open the app.

MamaBear packs all of these features into one easy to use family GPS tracker app. We developed the MamaBear app to give parents the widest range of options possible in a simple interface. We’ve built the app with protecting our children top of mind and always honoring families.

The Benefits of a Family Locator App like MamaBear

family locator app

A family locator app may sound pretty simple. It should be an easy to use app that uses global positioning satellites (GPS) and a smartphone to give parents up-to-date information about their child’s location. In actuality, the idea of instantaneous tracking of a child’s whereabouts is fairly complex; as is the wide range of options it can offer parents. Monitoring a child’s location can be an invaluable parenting tool, and can go far beyond simple tracking. A family locator app gives parents a means to ensure children have been and are where they are supposed to be.

Family tracking apps can be used with a few intentions – safety, accountability and parental peace of mind. It offers families a life-saving technological innovation in the case of an emergency. In addition, a family locator app like MamaBear can let kids explore geographical boundaries allowing a parent to gauge where an intervention is necessary.

On the most basic level, a family locator app serves the basic function of tracking a child. With social location sharing and the utility of so many apps today, acceptance of the MamaBear app from our children shouldn’t be so uncommon. In addition, they may come to understand we’ll feel more comfortable allowing our kids to do a wider range of activities we may have otherwise found ‘too far’ or ‘too scary’ with the use of a family locator app. Knowing where our kids are when they’re camping, at an amusement park or on a day trip with friends can free up both sides of a parent and child’s relationship.

Upon the parent’s discretion, it can be a two-way street. The parent has the option of sharing their location with their children when they choose. This allows an easy way for kids to find their way to meet up with mom or dad. In addition, a quick press of the check-in or come get me button from the the child communicates immediately with the parent.

The times a family locator app like MamaBear can be the most invaluable are often the hardest ones for us as parents to consider, let alone discuss. In an emergency, a family tracking app can give parents and authorities an answer to a child’s current and recent location.

A family locator app like MamaBear gives parents options and reassures our trust. MamaBear can give us the reassurance we need to let our kids live a little, and can protect their lives in the worst case scenario. With availability on Android and iOS enabled smartphones, MamaBear represents a flexible alternative to family monitoring.

To learn more about the MamaBear family locator app watch the video below:

Download the MamaBear family locator app for Iphone

Download the MamaBear family locator app for Android

Android Parental Control – What are your options?

android parental control app

The invention of smartphones and social media combined with younger children now having cell phones has led to new needs and new possibilities in parenting.  With the added responsibility and dangers associated with smartphone ownership, it’s no surprise that parents quickly turn to child monitoring and parental control apps. There are several parental control apps and options for Android; we’ll take a look at a few. It’s also good to remember, when it comes to parental control apps, to consider very specifically what the app needs to do for your family.

We need parental control apps for a variety of reasons. Our own peace of mind as parents is as good of a reason as any when it comes to wondering about a child’s whereabouts and well-being. Children exploring boundaries can also require more intense scrutiny than we’re able to gather simply by observing in the home as parents. Some parental controls are necessary to keep children from texting too much; some are simply good for curbing problem behaviors.

Which Android Parental Control Apps Should You Use?

The Android platform offers a few good options for parental monitoring and control apps. For younger children, apps like Reward Chart can make for an easy transition into parental monitoring, as well as enforcing good behavior. Apps that prevent tampering with the phone like Kids Place are popular with parents, but not always with kids. Apps that monitor location and social media, as well as phone usage are also popular with parents, though require a monthly service fee.

Apps like Kids Place and Kid Mode can be used to prevent all tampering with a phone. Parents can install these types of apps to choose which apps and features the child can access. Apps like Reward Chart, if installed early in a child’s phone progression, can help a child develop good behaviors and make the adjustment to parental monitoring apps easy.

Monitoring apps like Code9, MMGuardian and Phone Control give parents varying monitoring options but come with monthly or up-front fees. Other family locator apps can track children using GPS, but most come with few options. Norton Online Family offers online monitoring but lacks GPS tracking or location alerts. MamaBear offers multiple GPS monitoring options, as well as social Media and driving speed alerts, making it an excellent, well-rounded solution to parental control apps and is free during its beta launch.

General GPS monitoring apps are good, but they don’t provide as much depth with additional alerts and multi-functionality. Apps that prevent tampering are a good idea if a parent wants to be sure that software stays put. When combined with the MamaBear app, these apps give parents a free, comprehensive solution for child monitoring and parental control.

What Android parental control apps have you tried?

Let us know in the comments section below.

Looking for a parental control app for your Android device? We review the top 8 parental control apps on Android devices.
Android Mobile Apps
Date Published: 01/11/2013
4 / 5 stars

Dealing With Drop-Off Anxiety? There’s an app for that.

Does dropping your kids off at a friend’s house leave you anxious or nervous? Do you ever wonder if they are staying there or going somewhere else? If so, I know how you feel.  It’s a pretty normal reaction as our kids start taking further steps away from us and out into the world.  I imagine every parent deals with drop off anxiety at some point in their child’s life, probably more likely in the tween/teen years when they want to go to a friend’s house you may not know so well or to the movies or mall without you. With the MamaBear child tracker app; you can have a little peace of mind and maybe be a bit more willing to drop your child off.

The MamaBear app allows parents to monitor the child’s location in real-time, as well as receive alerts if the child leaves the drop-off location ahead of schedule. It’s security knowing they are where you expect them to be.

I want my kids to experience as much freedom as they can without me on their heels, but finding the balance of taming my anxiety and letting them roam can be a juggling act. And the distance grows as much as the worry as they get older going from roaming the neighborhood, to the mall or even a community fair. The MamaBear app has some other features too.  It also allows parents to give children some flexibility by sending alerts only when a child enters an area that a parent chooses as restricted. MamaBear further informs parents by alerting them if the child uses inappropriate language or adds friends on social media as well as monitor their driving speed.

We do our best to give our kids tools and advice to help get themselves out of uncomfortable situations. The MamaBear app allows parents to rest assured, knowing the child has a readily available and easy to use app to make contact. The child can check in with the parent, reach out for an immediate pickup or notify the parent of an emergency with a few simple clicks on a smartphone. The children’s interface is three simple buttons to make using the app quick and discreet for children.

It’s simple – we just want to keep our kids safe. I’m pretty sure it’s a major commonality among all parents. Some are just more anxious than others when our kids are exploring the world. The MamaBear child tracker app was specifically developed to allow parents to observe more of their child’s activities and, as a result, worry a little less.