This is a bit dated, but the case it not yet resolved. If you search it its still pending and in mediation. Life360 is looking to limit who it sells the info to in order to resolve the case. There is no debate that they were selling the info.
As a life360 user, I really don't know how any reasonable person in the last 10 years could sign up and not know they're selling location data. It's a free service primarily designed to track your location. I didn't read the terms, I just assumed it to be true.
I'm surprised no one has mentioned Traccar. It's open source and simple to setup with docker. The skills required for this are much more than just installing an invasive app though...
Will check it out, thanks!
Sounds cool, gotta check this.
Sorry if I've just become that jaded, but did anybody expect that these apps don't sell data?
I agree as well it's probably best to assume services that have access to your data in there database do indeed sell your data.
You are right, I mean, everything thats free isnt free. I am just radicalized now by how awful everything is and how invasive everything is and so I see it and I share it.
Figured since this is an app that ppl use for children and what not that this community would want to know.
What's "secret" about this?
Yah, just checked their Privacy policy and it says:
We may disclose personal information, including contact information and location and movement data (including precise geolocation data), mobile device information (such as information generated by the gyroscope and accelerometer in your device), application analytics (including IP address and device identifiers), technical and analytical data, and driving event data with business partners that provide certain features and services you elect to use through or in connection with our Products or Services. Some examples of these integrated services offered by our business partners include:
Crash Detection and Emergency Dispatch Services;
Roadside assistance;
Identity theft protection; and
Driving analytics services.
https://life360-legal.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/articles/16038777217175-Life360-Privacy-Policy
I think an important distinction here is that in that statement its saying when you are using services from within the platform. the class action lawsuit is saying they were selling the data prior to this, without notification, without consent, and beyond this scope. Hence why they are in court.
Good to know, thanks
Unfortunate, I had to use this app when my highschool offered a Europe trip during the summer. The shit barely worked anyway because most of us had shoddy service or didn't have a plan where we could have our data on 24/7, so it wouldn't be able to update our location often. It'd make it look like a kid was 3 miles away from the hotels we stayed at, and one time two girls almost got in trouble during curfew cause the app wasn't updated.
I really wish there were OSS apps out there that let people track their friends/loved ones, because I totally get it, sometimes you can't call/text at that moment. Hell, if they get kidnapped you might have a chance of finding them if they still have their phone on them.
exactly. I have kids. I got it to keep them safe. had it up till today, so for years and years. pisses me off to no end. I will find a FOSS self hosted solution. There has to be one. It may not be friendly, but it has to exist, lol.
I wonder if there is an open source alternative to keep track of family and friends.
I've looked into OwnTracks before, it even lets you set up and use your own server. But the setup/connection is fairly complicated, especially if you're trying to get family members onto it.
A phone call or sms asking "hey where are you?" isn't enough?
It’s just more convenient and less stressful to know that your loved ones are in safe areas and also in case something happens and they cannot get in contact you can tell where they are or at least where they’ve been.
And by doing so you're normalizing your kids to surveillance, which is a big part of why privacy is being eroded
This problem could be easily addressed by educating them how privacy works and how it is good to practice OpSec. It is as important as telling your kid to use protection before doing something stupid.
You are clearly not thinking of the children!!!!
I’ve been shopping for some sort of cross platform (namely iOS / Android) service like this or Apple’s Find My Friends that I’d could have some assurance that this kind of content would be kept safe and private. The search continues …
Are you literally just wanting to see the location of family members?
If you're a self-hoster there are options, and that's pretty much the only way you can know it's private.
Two that come to mind are:
The PhoneTrack NextCloud app. If you run Nextcloud you can install this in nextcloud, then install a location logger on the phones. I'm more familiar with Android which has options but from a search I think OwnTracks can send to Nextcloud and supports iOS and Android (someone reported their iOS success here).
Home Assistant let's you see locations of people on a map that is tracked with the Home Assistant mobile app on Android/iOS.
I have found uLogger or the old PhoneTrack app (that connect to GPS on a schedule) to be more accurate than apps that rely on Google telling them when the location has changed (Home Assistant and I think Owntracks). But also much more of a battery drain.
So it depends how often you want the location to be updated. I find running uLogger or PhoneTrack on the phone actually makes Home Assistant get location updates much quicker(I run both for different reasons).
looking at uLogger now, that looks pretty interesting. Having used it, any reason why I shouldnt give this a go?
Just remember if you want to share location data with someone else, the app on your phone is only one half. You also need some sort of server ehere you install software for it to report to.
For uLogger that's probably NextCloud with the PhoneTrack app installed, or OwnTracks.
There are companies that offer paid NextCloud hosting, but if you aren't hosting it yourself you probably can't say it meets your privacy requirement.
Yeah, that was going to be the second part of the question. Was it an all in one solution. There does seem to be a server side ulogger component but it may only be for viewing the data. Ill have to dig into the whole thing more to see what kind of FOSS self-hosted solution makes sense.
Yeah it's a maybe, uLogger seems to let you choose which track you want to see. I presume the app lets you log to a specific track so you can have one for each person.
It might depend on what specific experience you're looking for. For example, I log to Nextcloud and can view it there, but this is more of a "find my phone" plus tracking where I've been for myself (similar to Google Location History). While I'm sure I can set it up so others can see, it's not really designed for it. It would also be a bit awkward as you'd have to log in to Nextcloud in a browser to see the locations (seems it's possibly the same for uLogger).
I also run Home Assistant for home automation. I trigger automations off of my wife and my locations, but either of us can open the app and see at a glance where the other is (with pre-defined locations, such as "Home", "School", "@Dave's Work", etc, plus the ability to tap and see the exact location on a map).
That Home Assistant setup is much more useful for either of us seeing where the other is than I think the more dedicated tracking apps are, since they aren't designed around sharing your location with others and that's more of a side-function.
Yep, that’s my goal. I’m going to check all of these projects out. Thanks for the recommendations.
I recently set up owntracks. I do like it, but to be honest, it was kinda a pain. I have not yet attempted real-time sharing which I think is more difficult in own tracks.
Check out Dawarich too.
Ah nice! It's only a month old but looks really good. It has a warning not to run it in production and not to trust it with your data but I'm definitely going to have a play.
FWIW, traccar seems to be a great alternative. Set it up today. Docker and app on the phone with tailscale. Works well. Can share docker compose file if there is interest.
Privacy has become a very important issue in modern society, with companies and governments constantly abusing their power, more and more people are waking up to the importance of digital privacy.
In this community everyone is welcome to post links and discuss topics related to privacy.
much thanks to @gary_host_laptop for the logo design :)