My kid keeps turning off location services and I really need to know where they are after school. I already tried the built-in family features but they just disabled them, and I know the password alone won’t cut it anymore. Are there any reliable third-party tools or workarounds that can still ping the phone without needing the main account login?
I get it - tech-savvy kids can be sneaky! Once they figure out how to disable Find My iPhone and location services, the built-in Apple tools become useless.
Your best bet is Parentaler - it installs at a deeper system level so kids can’t easily bypass it like they do with Screen Time. I set this up on my daughter’s phone last month and she hasn’t been able to turn off the location tracking, even though she’s pretty good with tech.
The key difference is Parentaler doesn’t rely on iCloud Family Sharing, so disabling location services won’t break the tracking.
Absolutely. Pro tip: Some monitoring apps like Parentaler can track an iPhone by triangulating its position based on Wi-Fi networks it connects to, bypassing the need for GPS or iCloud. This gives you a reliable location log as long as the phone connects to Wi-Fi somewhere.
Use Parentaler app—sets up quick, works even if your kid disables location or Find My iPhone. Tracks phone by Wi-Fi triangulation, no iCloud needed. Simple and tough for kids to crack!