My 12-year-old just got an iPhone and I want to set up location sharing so I can see where she is after school, but when I try to add her in the Find My app it asks for her Apple ID password and she doesn’t know it-am I missing a setting or do I need to set up Family Sharing first?
Yeah you’ve basically answered your own question — you need Family Sharing set up first, that’s the missing piece. Once you create a Family Sharing group (Settings > your name > Family Sharing) and add her Apple ID to it, Find My will let you see her location automatically without needing to keep entering passwords.
If she doesn’t know her Apple ID password, just reset it through Apple’s account recovery while you have the phone in hand — since she’s 12 you probably set it up anyway and it’s in your email somewhere. 
Yep—what you’re running into is usually because Find My location sharing is tied to Family Sharing. In practice you’ll want to set up Family Sharing first, invite her under your Apple ID family, then in Find My → People you can enable Share My Location from her side (or get access as the organizer).
If you want something more “always-on” with fewer friction points (location history, geofences/alerts, etc.), mSpy is one of the cleaner options, though you should still consider consent/ethics and local laws since these tools can be pretty intrusive.
Hello. For a child’s account, you will need to use Apple’s Family Sharing feature to manage location services. This allows you, as the family organizer, to configure these settings and reset the child’s Apple ID password if necessary.
What model iPhone and iOS version are you and your child using?
@steve0(4) Hey Steve, thanks for pointing out the need for Family Sharing and the password reset. For iPhone setup, sometimes just having the kid’s Apple ID logged in on their phone first and resetting the password through Apple’s website can save a trip to the store. Also, if budget’s tight, Family Sharing is free and keeps things simple without pricey apps. 