Family Locator
by Life360

Platform: Android

RATING:
3 out of 5

PRICE:
FREE (For now!)

TASTY:
Use your smart phone to see where your family members are on a real-time map, and much more.

BUMMER:
GPS usage can drain battery life on some DROID models, while sometimes poor GPS location fixes and delays in transmitting tracking data ache for an app update in the near future.

COOL:
Track your family members via live GPS maps, no matter whether they’re using an Android or iPhone.

Read all of my past Android app reviews at Appolicious and Yahoo! Tech -- click here.

REVIEW:
If you and your kids own an iPhone or Android device, Life360’s cross-platform Family Locator (Android) and Family GPS Tracker and Safety Center Pro (iPhone) stand ready to help you track and locate each other in real-time.

That’s the promise. In practice, the app has a nasty habit of draining your battery due to constant GPS usage, and many users (including yours truly) have consistent issue with GPS fixes that are miles off their mark, and sluggish positional updates.

Tip: Head over to http://life360.com to find out how to disable the always-on GPS fixes.

In addition to tracking your family, the Life360 service also displays the location of registered sex offenders who may wander within range of your kids, embed emergency ID information for use in missing children situations and medical emergencies, and securely send messages to one another over the service.

With some much-needed tweaks to the standard settings to reduce the battery impact, and better handling of GPS tracking, Family Tracker could quickly become an indispensable app for every parent, bar none.

"The iPhone and Android apps are both currently free, and any amount of people from one family can download an unlimited amount. Eventually, each download will be $2.99 but we don't have a specific date in mind for implementing that. Right now Life360 is focusing on development of the product." -- Tony Pham, VP of Marketing, Life360.