UK parents increasingly use apps to track children's location

New data indicates a rise in UK parents using location sharing technology to monitor their children's whereabouts, especially during critical times throughout the school day.

The information, derived from Life360, a family safety and connection application, illustrates a notable increase in app usage by users identified as parents between 3:30pm and 4pm on weekdays. During this time, mothers and fathers frequently check to ensure their children have left school and are heading home safely, a pattern that contrasts with the more varied usage times observed over weekends.

Of particular interest is the fact that, among all user roles, grandparents are the most frequent app users, with an average of six app launches each day. Parents, by comparison, access the application an average of five times daily. Regionally, London parents top the chart with an average of 5.4 checks per day, followed by Birmingham at 5.1, while Glasgow, Manchester, Leeds, and Reading all average five daily checks.

The application offers several location and safety features, such as the Place Alerts function, which can inform parents when their children arrive at or depart from school. The most common "arrival at school" time is 8:20am, while the most frequent "left school" time is noted at 3:20pm. In Glasgow, these times vary slightly, with the average school arrival at 8:40am and departure at 3:40pm.

Scott Wilson, a Life360 user, shared his experience with the app: "My daughter started secondary school and I was a bit worried about her walking to school and home again so I insisted on having Life360 on our phones so that when I am away at work I can still get to see where she is and when she is in school or walking back home. Especially now that the darker nights have come or if she is out at night, I know that I can check to make sure she is safe and that she can press a button on the Life360 app and it would alert us to something is wrong."