Low-key kid tracking

[Locke]

I cant believe I didnt think of it before!

A Flare-Gun!

"Red smoke for trouble, blue smoke for pickup and lattes!"

[Regulator75]

https://www.angelsense.com/

They have a new smaller tracker, it can be attached using magnetic (mini clothes shopping) tags, which cannot be removed unless you have the tool.

My little guy is on the spectrum and is low functioning verbally, yet is an escape artist and can be (has been) gone in an instant.

That device gives me / us a small piece of mind, if and when he gets away from school, caregivers etc.

[REDVAN]

We have a 7 year old that knowingly has an Apple Air Tag in her backpack when she goes to school.


She also has an old cell phone of mine (no SIM) that I can track anytime she's on wifi (usually grandma and grandpa's house, or out and about with them).


She also uses it to check up on me and my wife, or grandparents, so I don't think it's some huge invasion of her privacy (yet- I'm sure she'll come up on that age soon enough, and we'll figure something out).

[tvp2003]

Originally Posted by WhiteTiger

Whatever you do in the end, do NOT give your kids phones without a SIM card in it. These are commonly known as 'Emergency Phones' and are damn near useless IN an emergency.

A cell phone without a SIM card but with power can still be used. It can only dial 911, and it provides no useful information when doing so, so unless the person calling is conscious, capable and able to tell emergency services where they are, they are basically unfindable.

If you have an old phone (unlocked) the cheapest SIM card option I found is through 7-11 (www.speakout7eleven.ca). They have a prepaid (aka pay as you go) option meaning you only pay for phone calls and outgoing texts (although they do deduct $1.25 each month for 911 fees), but the unique part is that your credit doesn't expire for 365 days (unlike other plans where you have to top it up every month because your credit expires after only 30 days).

We've used it with our daughter for the past two years and the cost has only been $25 per year (which is the minimum top-up amount). Note: this option doesn't work if you your kid regularly texts (since the charges will add up quickly), but as an "emergency phone" it does the trick.

[Barnes]

When my son was about 6, we bought him a watch from Amazon that was like a Dick Tracey watch. It allowed him to press a button and communicate with my wife and I through an app on our phones. You could also send alarms and reminders through SMS. It would send us alerts when he left geofenced area or removed the watch. It was awesome but it was from China and a massive PITA to get working. It worked on the old EDGE cell network so had to explain to the 18 year old at the Telus store what that was then I had to research the settings the Telus network uses and translate from a not English website code which I then had to send via SMS to the watch to modify the watch settings to work on Telus.

I cant believe there isn't a consumer grade, fit for kids device that is similar that is easy to set up and use. It had a talk button and an SOS button. He couldn't even turn it on or off.

Now he's 12 and has an iPhone which he's already disabled the parental controls on. I dunno. He's a good kid but it's hard to keep up.

[TorqueDog]

Originally Posted by Barnes

Now he's 12 and has an iPhone which he's already disabled the parental controls on. I dunno. He's a good kid but it's hard to keep up.

History repeats itself. When I was 12, I was the parental controls... as in I knew more about the computer than my parents and therefore I controlled what my parents did and could or could not see on my computer.

[Tiger]

Originally Posted by Table 5

Hmm not a bad idea, as I do have an old iPhone that I keep around as a backup. Will investigate, thanks.

Friends have given their kids the apple watches with a number hooked up to them. You can hook a number up to a watch without having a phone associated with it.

[CaptainCrunch]