Two-way by design
Most parental apps draw a one-way mirror: parents see kids, kids see nothing. MyParental's family map is built the other way around. Everyone in your private circle who shares their location appears on the same map — parents included. Kids can see that mom is stuck in traffic before asking about dinner. A teen can check that dad already left for pickup. Grandparents on a road trip can be watched over without a single "checking in!" phone call.
This symmetry isn't a gimmick; it changes how the app feels in a family. When location sharing runs both ways, it stops reading as surveillance and starts reading as what it actually is: the digital version of knowing each other's whereabouts the way families always have — just without the phone tag.
How the family circle works
Your circle is created when you set up your parent account, and it's strictly private — no public profiles, no friend discovery, no social layer. You invite members directly: a co-parent joins as a second parent with full dashboard access, children join via the pairing code during setup, and other adults — grandparents, an adult sibling, a nanny — can join as location-sharing members without any parental controls applying to them.
- Parents see the full map, manage children's settings, and choose whether to share their own location with the circle (we recommend it).
- Children appear on the map, see the map themselves, and see exactly what's shared about them. Their controls are managed by parents.
- Adult members opt in to sharing, can pause it at any time from their own device, and are never subject to monitoring features — adults manage themselves.
What the shared map gives you day to day
- The logistics glance. Who's where right now — the question behind half of all family texts — answered in one look before school pickup, dinner, or leaving for the airport.
- Quiet reassurance both ways. Kids genuinely use it too: knowing a parent is five minutes away is as calming for an anxious nine-year-old as the reverse is for you.
- Care for older relatives. An aging parent who drives to appointments can share their location with the circle — peace of mind for everyone, dignity intact, no check-up calls required.
- Arrival alerts for anyone. Pair the shared map with geofencing alerts and the airport pickup, the long drive home, the first solo commute all announce themselves.
Privacy inside the family, too
A family map needs boundaries of its own, and MyParental gives you them. Adults choose when to share and can pause anytime — leaving for a surprise-present errand takes one tap. Sharing status is always visible: nobody in a MyParental circle is ever tracked without knowing it, child or adult. And the circle's data stays in the circle — encrypted, never sold, never visible to other families, deletable by you at any time.
Included free
Two-way family location tracking is part of the Free plan — the live map and circle membership cost nothing, forever. Premium adds location history, unlimited geofences and the rest of the toolkit on top.
📲 How to set up Family Location Tracking
- Download MyParental from the App Store or Google Play and create your free parent account.
- Install the app on your child's phone and link it with the one-time pairing code.
- Switch on Family Location Tracking from the parent dashboard — the app guides you through any permissions.