If you’re letting your kids go trick-or-treating with friends this year, here are three free smartphone apps to help keep them safe. They’ll have to have a phone with them, but a lot of kids have their own phone anyway now.
Even if you’re going trick-or-treating with them, you might want them in case you get separated:
1. Family Locator. It uses the GPS on their phone to show exactly where they are in real time. You just log in on your phone, and it pulls up a map. Or if they need you, they can press an S.O.S. button that sends you their location.
2. Red Panic Button. It’s basically like the S.O.S. button, but simpler so it’s good for little kids. All they have to do is push a big red button, and it automatically sends you a text with a link to a map that shows where they are.
You can put multiple people on the contact list, so more than one person gets it.
3. Life360. Again, you can see where they are on a map in real time, and they can message you if there’s a problem. But the cool part is you can also set boundary limits. So you get an alert if they go too far away, or cross a street they’re not supposed to.
