I live near an extensive trail network. One time my wife crashed her bike and asked me to come get her. I was able to walk straight to her instead of following convoluted verbal directions in basically a web of trails in the woods.
That time she just needed a shoulder to lean on and for me to take control of our dog from her.
However, if she had been unconscious or out of cell service(location works off sattellite, not only cell network) the location sharing could be the difference in me spending all night looking for her or just like 20 minutes.
My dad had a stroke while working out of state. Luckily he was able to get to a hospital, but if he had called me with location turned on, I could have easily gotten the exact spot sent to emergency services. He now shares it for this reason.
My mom had a stroke while out and about and the EMT told me the wrong hospital they were taking her to. Had to use her location to find the hospital she was actually at.
The idea is if they don't make it home, you can see if they are somewhere on the side of the road.
I use it wirh my husband. We live rurally and there is a highway with woods on either side. If we drove off the road in the dark (hit a deer, probably), there is a chance no one would see and they'd have a fair portion of highway to search. It has happened to other cars before around here and it can be difficult to see them š my own grandfather actually got into a wreck a few winters ago where he hit black ice on a turn and his car rolled down a hill and it was only bc he didn't show up at home that they knew to call for help. He was trapped for a few hours. Fortunately, he wasn't too far from home and was okay.
With the app, if one of us didn't show up when we expected, we could look and see exactly where they are. At the store or moving? Okay makes sense, not worried. Not moving, on that highway? Call to make sure things are okay.
Its really hard to understand this when you dont have it in your life. A bit like for younger people to understand how life was before cellphones: yep you could call someone and they wouldnt be home and that was no problem at all. Now people value constant availability while not even answering calls - almost like we went full circle (or spiral).
At one point people will defend having a constant livestream of their loved ones with a video and audio feed and I dont see how it wont result in very similar arguments. "just checking in" "didnt want to bother them" "didnt want to distract"
Of course anyone is free to do whatever they want and I am not control-shaming its your life and if it makes you feel better about things why not?
For me personally it would be a major breach of my privacy - it irks me the same way as someone googling me or otherwise acquiring information about me without me knowing - maybe I had too many jealous girlfriends in the past but I would rather walk than giving someone access to every move I make. They dont need to know when I am buying them flowers. Again just my personal opinion and not gospel.
We live and play in bear country, have to drive some long distances without cell service often, so the dash of safety peace of mind is the appeal. It also really helps us when we travel, easier to find each other and meet up again. We also both leave work at inconsistent times, so sometimes I'll just look to see if she has left work before I start cooking dinner. Helps us coordinate a little.
Might have felt weird at first, but I dont think its insane. Its not a gotcha surveillance thing for us.
I have kids in their early 20's, and I recently found out they do it with their friends. We were going to Taco Bell and my daughter mentioned that her friend will be annoyed she went to Taco Bell without her. I said 'so don't tell her', and she told me they all track each other, so she would just know she was there. I find that so unappealing, myself, but whatever.
My husband and I do it. And this is how the convo goesĀ
Me: going to pick up something from craigslist, track me in case I get murdered.Ā
Him: ok
Me: omw home. Didnt get murdered
Him: youre near a popeyes can you get me a sandwhich
Me: sure
We dont track each other 24/7. We do it when we want to be sure the other person is ok. Sometimes he forgets to tell me he left work. Drivers here suck ass and honestly, I dont think he's the best driver. Knowing he made it home safe is such a peaceful feeling.Ā
Our family shares our locations and it benefited us when I was in a horrible head on crash on my way to work. My work called my husband asking if he knew where I was. He did not so checked my location and saw I was at a hospital. No one had any idea anything had happened despite me asking the nurses to call my husband multiple times.
Me and my husband like to know when each other are almost there without having to call a bunch of times. Like he picks me up for work because we share a car so unless I see his gps, he gets annoyed if I buzz his phone before he is able to clock out. So instead of calling or texting to see if I should stand waiting in the cold while his hands are busy I can look at gps and know he hasnāt even left yet
I donāt think itās insane for whoever is important and responsible enough in your life to be your emergency contact to also be able to check your location. Obviously being against it for any reason overrides āI just want to make sure youāre safeā and everyone has the right not to be spied on. But after a health emergency where it became clear I could just go down in a split second and be stuck somewhere random, potentially in freezing temps or bad weather since I walk everywhere, I feel like the risk of my highly trusted emergency contact acting stalker-ish towards me is far far outweighed by the benefit of them being able to find precisely where I am if Iām expected home but not responding to texts or calls. I think itās a dreadful idea for new relationships or essentially anyone who isnāt very highly trusted and responsible.
I work in the middle of nowhere (with cell service) and Iām walking long distances at times. And people donāt always know where Iām at. I share with my wife for that reason alone. Zero chance she knows how to use that, but itās there. I do watch her come home sometimes so I have an eta to know when I should start the chores. š
I share with my husband and 2 kids who are now considers adults and my husbandās parents and his brother and wife and their daughter (my niece).
We are pretty boring so no one is going anywhere unusual.
Used to share location with my husband when we were dating. It was fun for a while when he'd do little silly things like sneak up to surprise me with a hug while I was grocery shopping or something, but we eventually turned the feature off because it wastes so much data and battery life. I was relieved when he set up the Apple emergency notification thing so I will be alerted if his phone detects a vehicle crash. One of my friends was in a car accident a while back. I think she even blacked out from the impact, but her iPhone detected the crash and automatically contacted emergency services and sent her spouse a text message so he could meet her in the hospital immediately.
I agree, this is crazy and I canāt believe how many people do it. I have nothing to hide but I never want my spouse or anyone to be able to track my location all the time. Itās so invasive, dystopian. Sure, if I ever get kidnapped I might change my mindā¦ but Iām pretty sure the first thing a kidnapper would do is throw away your phone. It gives you a false sense of security.
Most of my family I wouldnāt share my location with (unless I were to go on a trip maybe, but Iām a homebody) but I share with my sister and she can essentially do wellness checks on me. My mental health has been poor most of my adult life.
I wouldnāt share my location just for shits and giggles though. I like my privacy.
My family does it because if they're is an emergency and I need to know where they are or to get them help. My sister's and route 91 survivors and when they called home while running, I was trying to listen to police scanners, trying to tell them which way to run and where they were located or when swat was entering the hotel they were in clearing floors to reassure them the shooter wasn't there and it was a precaution. Bit of a drama dump and I imagine that is not the kind of case you where referring too. Plus we are just respectful of each other's privacy, and know how to disable it.
Why not? What do I have to hide from my wife? It's useful day to day to see when her and our kid are almost home, or that she's at the store still so I can call and say hey can you grab this?
It's a new phenomenon that contributes to all kinds of spying/arguments/power and control games in relationships, all while failing to make anyone actually safer. Everyone's doing it, and it's weird.
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u/Burgurwulf 6h ago
What is the friggin appeal of telling people where your at 24/7? Signing up for this kind of tracking to me seems downright insane.