I know this can be a creepy subject - used in policiers all the time - but we’ve decided we would like trackers on each other’s phones. We know of someone whose husband had a stroke walking the dogs - could well happen to us, middle of nowhere and no means of finding us. We have taken to carrying our phones but that assumes we can make a call.
Anyone any suggestions for a suitable app please?
If you have an iPhone it is already installed.
For android i am unsure.
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Google maps has location share built in.
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On iThings, it’s an App called Find My.
You need to have location service enable for this App for this to work.
The only downside is that it uses Apple Maps which isn’t the most accurate cartographic representation of rural France.
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There is an app called Life360 which covers precisely this.
There is a free version which lets you see each others’ location in real time, and there’s a paid version (17€/month) that can send automatic distress messages etc.
Individuals can it in and out of sharing their location at any time.
We use the free version in our family of 6 and find that it covers all of our needs - it’s not plastered with adverts, either. Accuracy is generally to a metre or two.
Brian
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Life360 app also has an emergency alert feature.
This is a hugely good idea. For over a week now enormous search parties have been looking for a local man who went out for a walk/jog Sunday last week and never returned. Only 59, and had a hip replacement so the concern is that he fell somewhere. He lives on edge of steep river valley and very difficult terrain to search in so now it’s the younger fitter people searching rather than us older ones. No luck, and with nighttime temperatures way below freezing there is no longer any hope. The gendarmes did bring in bloodhounds on Friday, with no luck either. It has since snowed heavily.
He didn’t carry his phone, and didn’t tell his family where he was going to walk. It makes us shudder, and also made us think about this too.
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Sounds very similar to a story some years back when a daughter in Australia (I think) could not get in touch with her mother here in France and the local gendarmes thought it was a fuss about nothing. “Find Carol Sheldon” was all over Facebook and people in walking groups were out looking, again snow was going to be an issue. She was found eventually, but sadly too late. I can’t help feeling if she had had something like this she would have been found sooner and might have lived.
Thank you everyone for your suggestions. we have android phones not i-phones. Life360 sounds a good idea, will investigate further.
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I remember that at the time, very sad it was.
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I think it’s an eminently sensible precaution, @SuePJ
Though it’ll put a stop to your “I’m just taking the dog for a walk, darling” crafty pub visits 
It was her daughter, Carol and I corresponded on a regular basis.
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Google Maps has location tracking built-in (but not necessarily activated), and can be surprisingly accurate, but also highly variable, depending on where one is in the country, and it is totally free. I have turned it on at the request of my wife when I’m out with the chainsaw in the woods. It enables her to find me with a metre or so accuracy, which isn’t too bad really for 4G coverage only.
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I have turned Google maps tracking on both our iPhones. However how does my wife see where I am. And Visa Versace.
Have you got location share and there details added?
Where do I find location share
I will have to go back and look, I used it last September going to France so cant remember.
Google maps top right where your intitial is. Tap on the initial and a drop down box with share location is about 4 or 5 down.
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I don’t know what the iPhone version of Google Maps looks like, so can’t help there.
On Android, you can activate sharing of the position by clicking on the icon that represents you , then choosing Share Position from the drop down menu, agreeing to be tracked and then choosing the person from your contacts list to share with and how long for.
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Lucky you to have a convenient ‘crafty pub’.
It knows if you’re using the Visa to buy Versace!?
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We used this when on android