Find My vs Life360 comes down to this: Apple's Find My is free, built into every iPhone and handles everyday "where is everyone?" questions well, while dedicated family location apps like Life360 add their own features and work across iPhone and Android. If your family is all iPhone, try Find My first. If you need more detail, cross-platform support, or location combined with screen-time controls, a dedicated app is worth a look.
What Apple Find My does
Find My lets people who choose to share their location see each other on a map. For parents, it works hand in hand with Family Sharing.
Key features
- See family members in the People tab, with when their location was last updated.
- Get a notification when someone arrives at or leaves a place.
- Get directions to a family member.
- Locate lost Apple devices, which is handy when a child misplaces their phone.
How to set it up for your child
- On your iPhone, open Settings, tap your name, then Family, and add your child.
- On your child's iPhone, open Find My, go to the Me tab and turn on Share My Location.
- From their People tab, share their location with you.
- On your phone, open Find My → People and tap your child's name.
Full steps, including troubleshooting, are in how to see where your child is on iPhone.
Check In: the built-in extra
Check In in Messages (iOS 17 and later) lets your child tell you automatically when they arrive somewhere. They start it from a Messages conversation with you, choose a destination or a timer, and you're notified when they arrive. If they don't arrive and don't respond, you receive details such as their location and battery level. It's perfect for one-off trips but needs starting each time.
Find My's strengths
- Free and already installed.
- No extra account or app for your child to set up.
- Run by Apple and built into iOS.
- Good enough for the many families whose question is simply "where are they now?"
Find My's limits for parents
- Apple devices only. It won't help if a family member uses Android.
- Location only. It shows where your child is, but not extras like their speed or whether they're walking or in a car.
- Separate from screen-time rules. Blocking apps, bedtime and limits live in Screen Time settings, a different part of the iPhone.
- Your child can switch sharing off unless you lock down the right settings in Screen Time.
What dedicated family location apps add
Dedicated apps exist because some families want more than Find My offers. The features vary by app and by plan, so always check each app's own site for what's included today. In general, you'll see apps focus on one of two things.
Family locator apps, such as Life360
Life360 is one of the best-known examples. It works on both iPhone and Android, shows everyone on a shared family map, and offers place alerts and other safety features, with a free tier and paid memberships. It's a strong fit if:
- Your family uses a mix of iPhone and Android.
- You want one shared map for the whole household or extended family.
- Location and safety features are your main priority, rather than controlling what's on your child's phone.
If you're weighing up options, see our fair comparison in Life360 alternative for iPhone.
Parental-control apps with location, such as Skydo
Skydo takes a different approach: it's an iPhone parental-control app built on Apple's Screen Time technology, with parent-to-child location built in. Instead of a family-wide map, it connects one parent's phone to a child's iPhone, so location and screen-time rules sit in one place.
Location on the parent's phone:
- Live position that moves smoothly while your child walks or rides, with an icon for walking or car and their speed.
- Battery level of your child's phone.
- Locate now and directions.
- Places such as home and school, with a notification when your child arrives or leaves. More on that in how to get notified when your child arrives at school.
Privacy:
- Location is end-to-end encrypted between the two phones. Even Skydo can't see it.
- Sharing is switched on visibly on your child's iPhone. It's never hidden tracking.
- No accounts (you pair once with an 8-character code), no ads, no data selling.
Parental controls in the same app: block apps or whole categories like social media, block adult websites, set a daily limit, bedtime and School Mode, and change bedtime, limits or school hours from your own phone in seconds.
Honest limits: Skydo is iPhone only and needs iOS 26.5 or later. It must be installed and set up on your child's iPhone. The download is free, but protection requires a Skydo Premium subscription; one subscription bought on the parent's phone also unlocks the child's phone.
Side-by-side summary
| Question | Find My | Dedicated apps |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Free | Varies, often free tier plus paid plan |
| Works with Android | No | Some do (e.g. Life360); Skydo doesn't |
| Arrival and leave alerts | Yes | Yes, in most |
| Speed and walking or car icon | No | Depends on the app; Skydo shows both |
| Screen-time controls | Separate, in Screen Time | Only in parental-control apps like Skydo |
How to decide
- All iPhone, just want to see locations? Use Find My. It's free and good.
- Mixed iPhone and Android household? A cross-platform family locator like Life360 is the practical choice.
- Parent of a child with an iPhone who also wants app limits, bedtime and school-hours rules? A parental-control app with location, like Skydo, saves juggling separate tools.
- Not sure? Start with Find My, live with it for a couple of weeks, and note what you keep wishing it did. That list tells you whether you need anything more.
A word on trust
Whatever you use, location sharing works best when your child knows about it and understands why. Tell them what you can see, agree on when you'll check, and explain it's about safety, not snooping. Kids who feel trusted are far less likely to look for ways to switch it off. If this is a first phone, our first phone rules for kids can help you set those expectations together.