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Sign up on your mobile phone company's website.log-on keyboard keys image by Michael Brown from Fotolia.com
Sign up for family locator on your mobile phone company's website or by calling customer service to add the feature to your existing account. Family locator works using the GPS component of the phone and a combination of GPS and the company's own tracking capabilities. It is necessary for all family members to either be on the same family plan or to at least be using the same mobile phone service provider, depending on the company's policy for its family locator service. All of the numbers must be registered, and each phone owner will receive a text message that his phone is being tracked. You may have the ability to track your child on a family locator website or on your own mobile device or both. Offers and fees have varied from $5 to $15 a month, depending on your plan, provider and the number of lines/phone numbers being tracked, but one or more free months are sometimes offered. There is usually no sign-up fee. - 2
Get text messages when your child has arrived at home or school.Young man is walking and entering door to go to school image by Alfonso d'Agostino from Fotolia.com
Review your options for tracking your child's phone plus the phones of any other family members. Some plans include notification to a parent via text messages received when a child arrives at a location, such as school. The degree of sophistication in tracking the phone will depend in part on the phone itself. Older phones will have a GPS component that can be tracked via the provider's own service coverage. Phones with sophisticated GPS capability will allow for location mapping and tracking that is more specific and can include getting directions to the phone's location. - 3
Add caregivers to your designated locations.granddoughter and grandpa image by Olga Sapegina from Fotolia.com
Set up the key landmarks, such as home and school, you wish to track when your child arrives or departs with her phone. Also set up the notifications you wish to receive about your child's phone location. It may be possible for both parents or parents and other caregivers to be notified of the child's phone location. Some features available include notification via text message when a child or other family member arrives or departs from a previously saved location (i.e., home, school, a friend's home). - 4
Lost phones can be found, but the location is approximate.Drowned phone image by Drozofeel from Fotolia.com
Know the drawbacks of using a family locator service to find your child's cell phone. Although the service is a great improvement, there are still some drawbacks in using it to track a phone's location. The child's phone must have a charged battery and be turned on for the service to work. The child's phone must also be within range of the provider's network coverage. When the child and the phone are separated, it is easy enough to find out that the phone was left at grandma's house or at the YMCA, but the location will be approximate. In general, you will not be able to locate a lost phone in a specific room in a house or building.
