Mobile Phone Tracking For The Family - 5top Tips For Making The Best Selection

The following tips will help you through the process of assessing potentially suitable

family tracking solutions or mobile apps and will ultimately also present some steers in deciding on the right mobile phones for the job.

>Cellphone Categories

There are a variety of location systems that can be used singly or combined to produce very different results in terms of the accuracy of the locations provided.

Results can vary from a metre or so for GPS (Satellite positioning) to a few kilometres for network based 'GSM' methods so this is an important decision.

If your family members already have mobile phones then you will want to limit the services under consideration to what functions with what you have.

If you don't have mobile phones already (or are happy to change them) then before rushing off to buy new phones use this guide to ensure sure your mobile phone selection suits your location tracking wish list and then modify both ofthem to balance budget and overall requirements.

>Service Features

Cellphone tracking products commonly have some other non-tracking related features 'included' - many of which in fact require a subscription.

For the purpose of this guide we will stick with tracking related features.

mobile monitoring systems produce locations in an assortment of methods:

1. Regular updates - set regular updates every 'X' minutes, 24/7. 2. Flexible regular updates - set your personal start & stop time periods and location intervals. 3. Polling only - locations are provided only when asked for specifically by you - e.g. pressing a button 4. Event based updates - location is triggered when the phone enters an allocated area

Progress history is a feature that you might find useful - allowing you to see progress 'so far' and highlighting any hold ups when your family members are travelling larger distances for example.

'Geofences' are basically areas stipulated by you that generate an alert should a tracked mobile phone send an update whilst inside it. These can work well but necessitate the location service (GPS as an example) to be on full time to make sure that the trigger area is picked up. (Be warned heavy battery drain here)

Balance the regularity of updates you would prefer with the effect on the mobiles' battery as well as the cost of delivering the location data whether that is by text (out dated) or as mobile data. Most good solutions will only use a few kilobytes each location but it's worth mentioning.

>Free vs Paid

Go to any app store and you will find dozens of cellphone monitoring applications with free, paid and 'freemium' price tags.

'Truly' Free - these commonly tend to be basic and developed by individuals rather than companies but you may be lucky and track down a product that is really free for life and does what you need to do.

Warning: Free apps are often advertised as 'free' but often 'lock' features after a certain time and inevitably require payment for their continued operation at an useful level. Look at the reviews - this will quickly identify this scenario!

Paid apps are generally via monthly subscription or 'pay as you go' format. Try working out the cost of using prospective applications for your preferred location-update frequency for each mobile phone on a month basis.

Freemium (free + premium) are free of charge apps that are marketed as having 'base' features free of charge forever (that can often be all you want for 99 % of the time) with the ability to 'upgrade' to unlock premium functions for a period of time via payment as and when required.

Note: 'Pay as you go' systems are inclined to be pricey if you think you will probably would like more than a few updates per day and don't usually provide a 'history' function.

>Support

Check out the developer:

Is the provider a bona fide business or a 'back bedroom' developer?

What support is offered?

Are they insured should their app fry your phone, is your data secure etc?

One way to do a very quick check on this is to look online via Google or similar and see if you can find their website - do a little digging basically.

Also it's worth establishing whether the product is focused at your location - numerous apps target the U.S. with specific U.S. content. Where apps clearly target a particular location/country the features may not convert well for where you live.

>Privacy

Check that the developer and product have a privacy policy that is valid for where you are.

Make sure that the user of a tracked phone, what ever their age or legal status, has a method of agreeing on a regular basis to being tracked - whether that be a text message that needs to be responded to or an 'in-app' feature.

>Summary

Having read the preceding hints and tips you will no doubt have come to the verdict that deciding upon the right cell phone tracking service for your family can be a perplexing business.

The good news is that most of the reputable solutions offer a free trial so you can use the information here to eliminate the vast majority of products and then try out the one (s) that matches your primary requirements.

Rule of thumb is that if you can't try it for free then don't try it.

by: Chris Everitt

POST COMMENT

Protect Your Family And Property From Criminals Cheap To Run Family Rooms In London All Family Fun Aside, What Is There For Adult Juggalos And Juggalettes At The Gathering? Hiring A Family Lawyer For Various Legal Family Matters Icps "in My Room" Proves That Even Juggalo Family Members Need Some Time Alone Gran Canaria Is The Ideal Vacation Spot For A Good Family Vacation Things To Consider Before Enrolling For A Family Mediation Training Course Choose Reliable Clapham Bar To Enjoy Family Or Office Parties In London Your Guide To Family-friendly Accommodation On The Gold Coast Minnesota Cabins And Resorts Can Make Great Family Vacation! Family Holiday Destination Selwyn Snowfields Have Fun With Your Family By Gold Panning Running Tips - Getting Family Support For Your Running