Modeling appropriate use of technology and privileges is an important lesson that needs be taught (and practiced). Lessons that translate to being an admin on a minecraft server or having root access on a system.
When I first installed Life360 my son was using it to track me. He made some comment one day about how he saw where I'd gone for lunch. He'd been checking up on me. Since then, he's become bored stalking his family. With shelter-in-place in effect no one goes anywhere anyway.
i am acutely aware that this is not always the case within families, however.
To address some other comments on the thread: 1) We don't sell your data to insurance companies
2) We are ultra-transparent on how we handle your data and give far more control than almost any other app out there. More here: https://www.life360.com/blog/understanding-how-life360-uses-...
https://life360.helpshift.com/a/life360-family-locator/?s=pr...
I have always thought it would be fun to build something like this but send it package tracking numbers and have the hands indicate where the packages I had sent or had been shipped to me were in the system. Just with a glance up at the wall!
The hands don't just show the person's state. When "In Transit" the hand position in the sector shows their distance from home. At a glance you can tell if they are close to home, in town, or across the country. Using a logarithmic scale to give more resolution for points closer to home.
Depending on where your hand is in the "Home" sector indicates what part of the house you're in.
This provides location information on people, without feeling like a violation of their privacy.
There's OwnTracks (https://owntracks.org/) and Google location services. I didn't try those.
I opted for Life360 because it's supported on iPhone and Android and I just wanted the location data to "just work." I had enough technical hurdles, I didn't want to add debugging why someone's phone stopped sending location updates.
built something similar back in '06: http://thisispete.com/weatherclock
I have a collection of related projects here: https://github.com/randomstring/WeasleyClock#related-project...
I hadn't seen yours, I'll add it to the list.
Don't miss the project photo album: https://photos.app.goo.gl/7yxiuzpsFReUh5Yy5
I consider the background a feature as it is intended to also be a Harry Potter "artifact."
Others have done custom artwork or made copies of official images (there are two variants that appear in the Harry Potter movies). I really liked this artwork, so that's what I did.
And it would be better for building any kind of trust in a child, as they would know you are trusting them to tell you where they might be, and gives a character-building opportunity to choose between lying or telling the truth. Without those opportunities, you never learn the satisfaction of telling the truth, only the satisfaction of lying to get your way when you are not trusted. Inevitably, you become a vicious liar with no limit, and you will lie to everyone: Your parents, your spouse, your mistress, your children, and worst of all yourself.
State can be pushed to an SMS number powered by Twilio.
