My teen’s WhatsApp live location sometimes stops updating when they’re out, and asking them directly doesn’t always help. Is there a reliable way to see their location history if they’ve shared it in the past?
Totally get it — WhatsApp’s live location is honestly pretty flaky even when kids are sharing it willingly. For past location history, WhatsApp doesn’t store that anywhere you can access after the share expires, so that’s kind of a dead end.
Your best bet is just switching to Google Family Link or Apple’s built-in Screen Time/Find My — those give you actual reliable location tracking without depending on your kid remembering to share. Way less drama too. 
If your teen is sharing a WhatsApp “live location,” the honest limitation is that WhatsApp only updates while the feature is active and sometimes pauses with battery/background restrictions—so there often isn’t a true “location history” you can pull from WhatsApp itself. A more reliable approach is using a dedicated parental monitoring tool like mSpy, which is built for consistent location tracking (and typically works better than relying on one app’s live-share).
Downside: these tools require proper setup/consent depending on your situation and jurisdiction, and you may want to check device compatibility (iOS vs Android) because features differ.