What teens push back on
Teens have been making memes about Life360 on TikTok for years, and swapping tips for getting around it.1 It got big enough that Life360's CEO joined TikTok to talk with them, and in 2020 the company launched Bubbles, which shows a teen's general area for a few hours instead of an exact spot.2 Student newspapers keep coming back to the same question: is it safety, or control?3
Read enough of it and a few themes stand out:
- It feels like being watched, not trusted. Especially when they don't know when or how often a parent looks.
- They don't know what you can see. So they assume the worst.
- There's nothing in it for them. It's an app about them, not one for them.
- A wrong pin starts a fight. An old location or a ride as a passenger turns into "why were you there?"4
How Outft is built so teens keep it on
Nothing hidden
A kid can always see exactly what each Honcho can see, and when and how often they checked. In Outft, a parent is a Honcho.
A break from Buds, not from family
Ghost mode lets kids take a break from their Buds, never from their Honchos, and the app tells them so. No guessing, no sneaking.
Their own side of the app
Kids get a map of their Buds and Outfts for their crews. Buds see nothing until a kid turns sharing on, and then only the neighborhood unless they pick more.
Driving coached, not policed
Rides as a passenger don't count as their driving. If a trip looks wrong, they can flag it. Speed shows as over a limit you agree on, in a weekly summary.
Honest pins, fewer fights
Every pin shows how fresh it is. If a phone is offline, the map says so, instead of showing an old spot as if it were live.
What Honchos never see
Honchos never see a kid's photos, and never see their Buds' locations.
What Outft won't do
- Track a kid in secret. A kid always knows Outft is on and who can see them.
- Show anyone a kid's profile. Nothing is public: no search, no "people you may know". Buds connect in person or with a private invite link.
- Keep their location history longer than they choose: none, 24 hours or 7 days.
- Sell or share their data, or show them ads.
Talking with your teen about location sharing
- Agree on what you'll see, together. Open the screen that shows them what you can see, and look at it side by side.
- Use alerts instead of checking. An arrival alert for school or practice means you don't need to open the map, and they can see you didn't.
- Let them have time off from Buds. Ghost mode is for that, and it never hides them from you.
- Settle wrong pins calmly. If a pin is old, it says so. Ask before you assume.
Want your teen to see it from their side? Send them the kids' page.