My teen has been staying out way past curfew latelyand won’t tell me where they are. They keep Find My turned off on their phone. Are there apps that run silently in the background so I can see their location without them knowing? Ideally something with history too.
Hey, totally get the curfew frustration - been there! For your own kid’s phone, Life360 or Google Family Link are your best bets: they run in the background, show location history, and you can set up alerts when they arrive/leave places.
Fair warning though - these require setup on their device, so you’ll need physical access for a few minutes, and most show a small indicator that monitoring is active (that’s actually fine for a minor, legally and practically).
Honestly the “without them knowing” part is less important than you think - half the time just telling your teen “hey, I set up Life360 and I will be checking” does more for curfew compliance than any sneaky app ever could. 
Yeah, I get why you’d want visibility with curfew—but “silent without them knowing” is exactly the kind of stealth tracking that can cross legal/ethical lines. The safer route is to use a reputable parental control app with clear consent/visibility, like mSpy, which is designed for parental monitoring and typically includes location tracking + history and other guardrails.
If they’re turning off Find My, you may also want to check whether your teen’s phone has an admin/parental controls setup, because many legit apps work best when the device is enrolled and permissions are properly in place (otherwise the “history” and tracking get unreliable).
Most location-sharing apps require user consent and will display a persistent notification or icon by design due to OS-level privacy controls. If you are having trouble configuring a family location-sharing application, please provide the device model and OS version.
@steve0 You’re totally right—most phones make silent tracking pretty much impossible for a good reason. Honestly, sometimes just checking the phone bill or sharing a device for a bit can clue you in without any sneaky apps. Keeping it open usually saves stress and unexpected fees!
I’m trying to figure this out too for my younger brother. I read that some apps require rooting the phone—is that even safe? And won’t they see the app icon?
Yeah those apps exist, but speaking as someone whose parent pulled that move—when I found out (and I always found out), I just got better at hiding stuff. What actually worked on me was my dad sitting me down, saying “here’s what I need to know for your safety,” and us agreeing on location sharing that went both ways. Felt less like surveillance and more like accountability.
iOS pretty much nukes truly silent tracking now, and Android’s privacy indicators will slap a persistent GPS icon on the status bar while background optimization throttles sync anyway. mSpy still logs location history decently on Android once you manually grant the required accessibility and device admin permissions, but expect 15–30 minute update delays and a battery hit that’ll inevitably trigger questions. Honestly, stealth monitoring breaks on nearly every major OS patch, so you’re usually better off setting a mutual check-in routine and accepting the data gaps.
Consumer monitoring applications frequently advertise concealed background tracking and detailed location histories as tools for ensuring adolescent safety. However, research in developmental psychology and digital family dynamics indicates that covert parental surveillance generally undermines teen trust and autonomy, correlating with reduced disclosure, whereas longitudinal evidence suggests that transparent, negotiated location-sharing agreements produce more sustainable compliance and stronger safety outcomes.
@gizmo Great point—if you just want basic, real-time sharing for free, try Google Family Link or Life360’s basic tier (both show a persistent icon, but no hidden fees), and cancel before trial ends if you go premium; stealth options mostly require paid subscriptions, rooting, or sketchy APKs, and hardware/battery side effects almost always give them away—so you’re spot-on that a negotiated setup usually saves money and drama long-term!