Should you be tracking your children via phone apps?

TECH DEVELOPERS SAY THE TECHNOLOGY CAN GIVE PARENTS PEACE OF MIND, HOWEVER A PSYCHOLOGIST EXPLAINS THAT USING IT MAY UNDERMINE TRUST. LISA SALMON FINDS OUT MORE

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A FEW decades ago, if your child left the house you didn't know where they were until they returned.

Now you can track them with an app every step of the way. But is that really a good thing?

There's no reliable recent data on how many UK parents use tracking apps such as Life360 and Find-MyKids on younger children.

Life360 has 6.5 million monthly active users in the UK, however it's unknown how many of these are parents. Meanwhile, a recent Unite Students poll of more than 1,000 parents of first-year UK university students found 67% use an app to track their child's location.

Clearly, using tracking apps (which use GPS, wi-fi and mobile phone masts to pinpoint where a child's mobile phone is) to monitor children and young people's whereabouts is a popular parenting aid.

But is such tech a valuable addition to the parenting armoury, or a Big Brother-style tool that can erode children's independence and trust?

Not surprisingly Life360, which is based in the US, insists the apps deliver important peace of mind for parents. CEO Lauren Antonoff says: "Location tracking apps can ease parents' anxieties and create peace of mind by simplifying communication and connection.

"Parents can access their kids' locations in real time on a private map, meaning less worrying, wondering and fewer check-ins with children who want to gain more independence."

The other side of the technology is that, ironically, there may be a chance that using it could actually raise parental stress, says Dr Gavin Morgan, an educational psychologist from University College London.