Even though Halloween is not as celebrated here in South Africa as it is in the States – we still think these clever apps are pretty cool.
Parents need not worry about their costume clad kids with these apps installed on their smartphone or tablet.
These apps allow parents to keep track of their kids when they‘re out trick- or-treating by GPS. It will also send them alerts if the kids venture out of the designated “˜safe‘ areas.
Track-n-Treat is a free iPhone app that allows children to send a time-limited link of their location via a phone number or email address. This will then in turn allow the parents to track their child‘s movements via a web browser for the next 4 hours.
Family GPS Tracker is another free app for both iPhone and Android. The Family GPS Tracker allows parents to track their children in real-time and also sends them alerts when they wonder out of the prescribed safe area.
Life360, which is also free and available for iOS and Android, connects family members through their smartphones. The app allows connected family members to view each others‘ location in a map. The connected members can also keep in touch with one another by means of group messaging.
However, Life360 is ideal to use on an everyday basis – and not just on Halloween.
With this app, users can set up specific zones and notifications. Say, when a child arrives at school, the parent is notified.
Family tracking apps have become increasingly popular over the past few months, and many believe that it will have a positive impact on child safety.
Bryan Tussel, CEO of Glympse – a Seattle-based company which cretaes location sharing technologies – said these apps are a handy tool for events such as Halloween:
“Kids are out and about and their parents want to know where they are, so Halloween is a great use of a temporary location-sharing technology” he said.
These apps are great to have, for both parent and child. And they will also make sure that mom and dad have as much fun on Old Hallow‘s Eve as the sugar-crazed kids.
