Short answer
Install a location app on your child's Android phone and link it to your phone, with your child's knowledge. For free, basic sharing, use Google Maps location sharing or Google Family Link. For live location plus the day's route, place alerts and an SOS button, use a parental control app such as SAFE.
Free options built into Android
- Google Maps location sharing: on the child's phone, open Google Maps, tap the profile picture, then Location sharing, and share with you "Until you turn this off". Simple, but the child can stop it at any time and you get no route history.
- Google Family Link: if your child has a supervised Google account, Family Link shows the device's location next to its screen time tools.
- Find My Device: made for finding a lost phone, not for following your child's day.
Seeing location with SAFE, step by step
- 1Install SAFE Parent on your phone from Google Play and create an account.
- 2Tap New child, enter your child's name and copy the pairing code.
- 3Install SAFE Child on your child's phone, open it and enter the pairing code once.
- 4When asked for location, choose "Allow all the time", so the location keeps updating when the app is closed.
- 5On your phone, open Location to see your child on the map, the places they stopped and for how long, and the trips between them.
What you get beyond a dot on the map
SAFE works only with the child's knowledge: the child's phone shows a permanent notification and every active permission.
- The day route on real streets, with a replay, and location history for up to 30 days.
- Alerts when your child arrives at or leaves school, home or any place you add.
- High-speed alerts while riding, and low-battery alerts.
- A temporary link to share your child's location with someone you trust.
Frequently asked questions
Can I see my child's location without installing anything on their phone?
Not in a reliable way. Every honest method needs an app or a Google account setting on the child's phone, set up with the child's knowledge.
Why does the location stop updating sometimes?
Usually the phone's battery saver stopped the app, or the phone lost internet. On Xiaomi, Samsung and similar phones, follow the background setup steps in the child app.
Does it work on iPhone?
SAFE currently works on Android phones running Android 8.0 or newer. An iPhone version is coming.