Tech question- is this possible?

[mm123]

DH and I are very NON tech people- maybe some of you can help us. We both have iPhones, but probably don't use them to their full potential :-).

DD1 is 10, and in a few weeks will start taking public transit home from school (2 busses, 1 transfer). Up until now, she has never had any device/phone, and hasn't really spent a ton of time on technology. For emergencies when she starts taking the bus, we got her a cheap Android pay-as-you-go phone that has a SIM card, so she can call/text us if she needs to. It is WIFI capable, but she won't have any data.

So, my question is, is there an app or a gps or something else that we can put on her phone so that DH and I can somehow track where she is, with our iPhones? Will anything work on her phone without data (DH and I do have a data plan on our iPhones). Especially those first few weeks, I worry about her getting distracted and missing our stop, or, more than likely, her leaving her phone somewhere. I imagine something that would help us find her or the phone if it goes missing.

I know a solution may not exist, but in case it does, I thought I'd ask!

[georgiegirl]

Does the phone have GPS? Is it a smart phone? Which phone is it?


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[mom2binsd]

There is an app called 360 that tracks but yes it does require data.

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[Dayzy]

If you have Verizon they have a watch called Gizmo that is GPS enabled. I stick it in my son's backpack. It's $10 per month on our cell bill. He can text or call 10 preprogrammed numbers from it. No extra data plan is needed.

[khm]

You can find your android - https://www.google.com/android/find assuming that phone is GPS capable. You'll have to set the phone up with a Google account, much like your iPhone is set up with an iTunes account.

But, yes, I assume it'll require data or wifi. You'll have to double-check.

[willow33]

We use the Life 360 app with our boys but they both have iphones with data plans. We love that we can see where they are at any given moment and if you put in location points it will notify us that they are leaving or arriving at that location. We have home and school in for locations right now. I know that doesn't help you since your daughter doesn't have a data plan, but we love this app and just wanted to give our review of it in case others are interested. We just do the free plan, but you can upgrade and pay a small fee if you want to add more locations or even track the speed of the car they are in.

[hbridge]

DC travels a distance to school daily. A few years ago when there was significant construction, transportation was often late. After three days of my panicking and not knowing what was up, we got DC an IPhone. I use the find IPhone app to track the phone. DC did NOT want an IPhone and uses it, essentially, as an Ipod for music and movies only. However, the tracking feature made it worth every penny! Just remember that you are tracking the phone, not the child. A few times DC has left it places and it was not where it should be. The places made sense once I though it through :)! There are also tracking devices that you can put on your child if that is more what you are looking for...

[mackmama]

Another vote for Gizmo. Several friends have them for their kids and really like them.

[mm123]

OP here. Thanks for all the suggestions. In answer to some of the questions- the phone we got her is a "Blu" phone ($50 from 7-11), with a pay-as-you-go plan for talking/texting. We're in Canada- not sure if you have that phone in the U.S. It's a pretty basic Android phone, but it does have Google maps and internet/Wifi capability.

I've heard of the Gizmo, but we don't have Verizon here.

I'm not interested in spending more money or investing in more tech- I just really wanted to know if there's a way to track the phone that we already got for her. It's pretty much what I thought- without data, there isn't really any way to track it. I'm a bit nervous about her being on her own on the bus, but not nervous enough to get her a data plan or an iphone or one of those GPS devices. I'll just have to trust that she'll call us if she gets lost or if a bus breaks down or something :-).

Thanks for the suggestions!

[khm]

OP here. Thanks for all the suggestions. In answer to some of the questions- the phone we got her is a "Blu" phone ($50 from 7-11), with a pay-as-you-go plan for talking/texting. We're in Canada- not sure if you have that phone in the U.S. It's a pretty basic Android phone, but it does have Google maps and internet/Wifi capability.

I've heard of the Gizmo, but we don't have Verizon here.

I'm not interested in spending more money or investing in more tech- I just really wanted to know if there's a way to track the phone that we already got for her. It's pretty much what I thought- without data, there isn't really any way to track it. I'm a bit nervous about her being on her own on the bus, but not nervous enough to get her a data plan or an iphone or one of those GPS devices. I'll just have to trust that she'll call us if she gets lost or if a bus breaks down or something :-).

Thanks for the suggestions!

It's easy enough to try any of these apps or click the link in my post above. I know my Google maps continues to show location even when signal is lost. We were in the mountains and had zero cell signal. But the blue dot kept trucking along. I couldn't change destination without cell coverage though. I'm not sure if someone could have logged in to find my android and seen my phone, though. Worth a shot. You probably already have a Google account on the phone right?

[mm123]

It's easy enough to try any of these apps or click the link in my post above. I know my Google maps continues to show location even when signal is lost. We were in the mountains and had zero cell signal. But the blue dot kept trucking along. I couldn't change destination without cell coverage though. I'm not sure if someone could have logged in to find my android and seen my phone, though. Worth a shot. You probably already have a Google account on the phone right?


Thanks so much for the tip. I decided, like you said, to go ahead and try. I set up a Google account on the phone, and downloaded "find my device" from the google store. It worked when the phone was in wifi, but then couldn't find it when I took it out of the wifi zone. Oh well, I tried.

Now I just have to figure out how to get my google account info OFF the phone for when I give it to DD :-). It doesn't seem as easy/straightforward as it is with an iphone.

[khm]

Thanks so much for the tip. I decided, like you said, to go ahead and try. I set up a Google account on the phone, and downloaded "find my device" from the google store. It worked when the phone was in wifi, but then couldn't find it when I took it out of the wifi zone. Oh well, I tried.

Now I just have to figure out how to get my google account info OFF the phone for when I give it to DD :-). It doesn't seem as easy/straightforward as it is with an iphone.

Bummer.

Try this to get out of the Google account.
https://www.google.com/amp/www.droidviews.com/sign-out-of-google-account-on-android-devices/amp/

[mm123]

Bummer.

Try this to get out of the Google account.
https://www.google.com/amp/www.droidviews.com/sign-out-of-google-account-on-android-devices/amp/


Thanks- I ended up figuring out how to remove it. It's times like these I wish either DH OR I were even remotely 'techie' :). Slowly, slowly...