Signal can at least share location if not live.

Try Paralino! It's a family location sharing app but is end-to-end encrypted :)

Gps Geofencing shock collar

Yeah making it optional for them to turn on because they are still entitled to privacy even though they are children is the key to building trust. Them trusting you as a parent is the most essential thing here, there is always a way around something, you want them being honest by choice rather than sneaky or you forcing "honesty" by coercion.

We always did that from when the kids were younger and my now adult daughter still chooses to turn it on when going on dates.

A reciprocal arrangement would also work. My little terror will soon be at the point of having a mobile phone. My wife and I already share locations in real time. They will get the same arrangement. We can check on them, however, they can also check on our location. Moving on from this, in the future will be a negotiation, not an ultimatum.

It's also worth noting however, that a level of accountability is required with phones and social media for children. Knowing that mum or dad might go through their phone to check things makes them think about what they are doing. It is also required to make sure they don't err too badly. The key is to be open, clear and reasonable in your requirements of them. Also, never mock or belittle. To you, it might be a cute minor kids spat. To them, it's the life or death of their entire social life.

If you have a good relationship with your children, these will be a non-issues. Mutual respect (not fear) is a FAR better position to take, parenting wise.

I have very mixed feelings about androids crash detection. The personal privacy is fine but - fucking google.

Not really, diversity visa victims were probably going to be picked up by ice and deported to Ecuador anyway, regardless of what TMobile does.

But also, this isn't a new thing. Phones are literally always being tracked. If someone knows your number they could already pay a few bucks to locate your phone. This is why it's recommended to make your "public" number a voip and never share your cell number with anyone.

Is that better or worse than "where you been all afternoon I been waiting for you?"

But again, this isn't new functionality. It's a little easier than googling how to stalk someone by phone, but it's not new.

Unpopular opinion: Your kids do not actually have freedom if you're tracking them.
Even if it is "just for emergencies" and "we don't actually look at it".
I enjoyed a completely untracked childhood, and I will make damn sure my kids can have that too.
Just knowing that your parents trust you is a priceless feeling.

If you are in a healthy relationship, you can do this voluntarily and for free using functionality built into the OS or third party apps, without paying your network operator $10/mo

then yes you should have as much financial separation as possible.

Yeah that's a thing people in abusive households frequently have.

This is a problem even without this. The account owner can get lists of all outbound calls of their victim's line if they share a plan.

The fcc requires some remediation if a domestic abuse order is submitted but obviously that's at the far end of the abuse cycle.

The issue here can be traced all the way to phone companies pushing the very concept of family plans because it makes churn more difficult.

An abuser can shut off their victim's phone line on a whim with convenient online interfaces.

Phone companies don't treat their customers will respect because their is no requirement. No one of adult age should be subjected to any of these controls simply because someone else pays.

The health industry has rules around this. The moment a child hits 18, their claims disappear and the parent loses access to medical records.

There is absolutely no reason phones should not have the same restrictions but the industry lacks the will and will until the fcc or other three letter agency forces the issue.

If you want to install free tracking tools, you'll need consent or try to guess the lockscreen password to try to install it covertly.

With this, its doesn't require consent, since most families are on the same family plan.

Only abusers would use this, since a normal person who actually cares about a family member's safety would just ask them to install a tracking app voluntarily and be transparent about it.

Its tracking either way, but doing so voluntarily is way less creepy and also free.

Most modern Android and iOS allows you to share your locations for free via Google and Apple "Find My Phone" networks.