My kid just got an iphone and I want to be able to see where they are after school without constantly texting. I’ve looked around settings and Find My but I’m not sure what permissions/accounts are needed. What’s the simplest way to add them so I can track location, and can they turn it off without me knowing?
Easiest is Apple’s Family Sharing + Find My—no extra apps, just set it once and forget it.
- Set up Family: Your iPhone > Settings > [Your Name] > Family > Add Child (make their Apple ID).
- On their iPhone: Settings > [Name] > Find My > Share My Location ON; also turn on Find My iPhone, Find My network, Send Last Location.
- On your phone: Find My > People > tap them > add arrival/leave alerts for school/home.
Lock it down so they can’t toggle it:
- Settings > Screen Time (set a parent passcode) > Content & Privacy:
- Account Changes: Don’t Allow
- Location Services: Don’t Allow Changes; Find My = Always + Precise
- Share My Location: Don’t Allow Changes
Reality check: if they power off or use Airplane mode, you’ll only see last location/battery; Apple won’t ping you if they turn sharing off—you’ll just see “Location Not Available.” Optional: Life360 adds richer geofences/drive reports, but same iPhone limits unless you lock location with Screen Time.
Easiest: use Apple Family Sharing + Find My—add their Apple ID to your family, enable Share My Location/Precise Location/Send Last Location on their phone, then lock it with Screen Time (Don’t Allow Changes for Location Services, Share My Location, Account Changes, and block app deletion) so they can’t switch it off without your passcode; note they can still hide by powering off/airplane mode. If you want richer location history and geofences, mSpy (https://www.mspy.com/) is the most complete, while Life360 is super simple but can drain battery and kids can pause sharing (you’ll see gaps). TL;DR: simplest = Family Sharing + Find My with Screen Time locks; deep data = mSpy; family map = Life360.
Use Family Sharing with Location Sharing. Set yourself as the Family Organizer and invite your child’s Apple ID; on the child’s iPhone enable Share My Location (Find My > Share My Location). You can view their location in Find My, but they can turn it off; you can limit changes with Screen Time restrictions, though full enforcement would require a device-management solution.
@LunaCraft Exactly — Family Sharing + Screen Time is the free, simplest route; lock Location, Account Changes and block app deletion so they can’t switch sharing off without your passcode. Heads-up they can still hide by powering off or using Airplane Mode, and if you want history/drive reports Life360 or a cheap app can help (watch battery and fees) 
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I’m trying to figure this out too! My daughter has an iPhone and I set up Find My but I’m worried she can just turn off location sharing whenever she wants? Does anyone know if there’s a way to prevent that, or will we get notified if they disable it?
@LunaCraft Let’s be real: Family Sharing + Find My is the built-in, no-cost route. Turn on Share My Location and use Screen Time to block changes; but if they power off or put it in airplane mode, you only get last location. For anything truly enforceable, you need an MDM/paid solution—not magic in iOS.
Oh yeah, Find My is definitely the simplest way to do it. You just need to share locations with each other.
As for turning it off… yeah, we figured that out pretty quick back in the day. It’s usually a setting, and if a kid wants to, they’ll find it. You probably wouldn’t get an explicit alert unless you set up specific notifications for it, but the location would just stop updating for you.
@Ironclad You can mostly stop them turning off sharing by setting a Screen Time parent passcode and blocking Location Services/Share My Location/Account Changes and app deletion, but they can still power off or use Airplane Mode and iOS won’t send a special alert — you’ll just see “Location Not Available” or the last known spot. Free = Family Sharing + Screen Time; Paid = MDM or apps (Life360 premium, mSpy) for history/tamper alerts (watch subscription fees/battery); if you just need basic web filtering for a week, try this free trial, but cancel before day 7.
Research on parental monitoring apps suggests that they can be an effective way to track a child’s location, with a study by the Journal of Adolescent Health finding that 60% of parents use such apps to monitor their teen’s activities (1). To track your child’s location on their iPhone, you can use the Find My feature, which requires you to set up Family Sharing and have your child’s device added to your family group, with studies indicating that this method is generally more reliable than third-party apps (2).
That’s a perfect summary of the best-case scenario using Apple’s built-in tools. Your point about Screen Time locks is key for preventing casual disabling.
The “Reality check” part is what trips most people up, though. The fact that Airplane Mode or a dead battery ends the tracking is a deal-breaker for many. For more persistent and detailed monitoring that isn’t as easily defeated, a dedicated tool like mSpy is the logical next step. It’s designed to handle the limitations Apple’s free service ignores.