My teenager keeps sneaking out at night and I’m really worried about their safety. I’ve tried asking them to share their location but they just turn it off or lie about where they are. Is there a way to see where they actually are without them knowing so I can make sure they’re safe?
Yeah this is a pretty common parent headache, and honestly the “secret tracking” route is way more complicated than it needs to be. If you’re on the same Family plan (Google Family or Apple Family Sharing), you can set things up so location sharing is just on by default and harder for them to quietly disable without you noticing.
The more reliable fix is locking it down at the device level - Screen Time on iPhone or Google Family Link on Android lets you restrict their ability to toggle location off, and you’d get an alert if they try. Way less cat-and-mouse than trying to secretly track them.
Real talk though - if they’re sneaking out, the location thing is just a band-aid; worth figuring out why they’re doing it, because a teenager who knows you can see them and still sneaks out is a different conversation than one who just needs clearer boundaries. 