Knowing your tamariki got to school safely is a wonderful thing. Knowing every move they make all day is a different thing entirely. WhānauGuard's location tools are built for the first — and the design choices are deliberate: location is off until a parent turns it on, and it stays proportionate.
Location starts as off
In WhānauGuard, location sharing is opt-in per device. It doesn't switch on when you enroll a device, and it doesn't sneak back on after a policy change. Every toggle is audited, so both parents can see what's shared and when it changed. If a device isn't sharing location, nothing anywhere pretends otherwise.
Safe places beat raw coordinates
Instead of a map covered in dots, WhānauGuard works in safe places: home, school, grandparents' house, sports practice. You get the information that actually matters — “arrived at school”, “left home”, “on the way” — without anyone needing to stare at live coordinates all day. Journeys work the same way: tell WhānauGuard to watch a routine route like School → Home, and you're only alerted if something unexpected happens.
Your location stays yours
The other side of family location is parents' privacy, and it gets less attention than it deserves. Family Distance Guard compares child and parent positions server-side, so distances are computed without your precise coordinates ever being sent to your child's device or shown on the family map. Opt-in works both ways.
Location data has a shelf life
Historical location isn't kept forever. Retention windows are bounded, and when your family's account closes, the data goes with it. If you ever want to check what 's stored, or delete it, the privacy policy explains exactly how to ask — and every verified request is actioned promptly.
Talk about it
Location sharing works best when tamariki know it's on and why. The conversation isn't “I'm tracking you” — it's “we want to know you got to school safely, and we can see when you're on your way home”. Used openly, location sharing is a calm reassurance; used secretly, it's a breach of trust that costs more than it protects.
“Location sharing is opt-in, audited, and every fix shows its accuracy. We protect children without collecting more than we need.”
Check what your platform supports
Location capabilities differ by platform and device type. Our platform comparison shows availability honestly — some devices can share location, some only partially, and we never claim a fix is live when it isn't. That honesty is the point: a tool you can trust is a tool that tells you the truth.