Location Sharing Risks
How location-sharing features can put children at risk and practical steps to manage location privacy across devices and apps.
Location Sharing is the practice of a device or app broadcasting a child's real-time whereabouts, which can allow others to track, follow, or find them.
What is this?
Many apps and devices share a child's location — sometimes without their knowledge. Social media posts, geotagged photos, location-based features in games, and tracking apps can all reveal where a child is in real time. This information, if accessible to the wrong person, creates serious safety risks.
How it works
Location data can be embedded in photos (EXIF data), shared through features like Snapchat's Snap Map, broadcast via live location sharing in messaging apps, or exposed through check-ins and public posts. Even apps that do not seem location-focused may request and share location data in the background. A combination of location data points can build a detailed picture of a child's routines and movements.
Warning signs
In your child
- • Regularly checking in at locations or sharing their whereabouts publicly on social media
- • Using live location features with people they have only met online
- • Being unaware that their location is being shared through their device or apps
On their device
- • Location services turned on for a large number of apps that do not require it
- • Snap Map or similar features set to public or 'Ghost Mode' turned off
- • Photos containing embedded location metadata being shared publicly
Prevention steps
Audit location permissions
Go through your child's device settings and review which apps have access to location data. Disable location access for any app that does not genuinely need it, and set others to 'only while using the app'.
Disable photo geotagging
Turn off location services for the camera app so that photos do not contain embedded location data that could be extracted by others.
Discuss location-sharing features
Make sure your child understands features like Snap Map, Find My, and live location sharing. Agree that these should only ever be shared with trusted family members.
What to do if it happens
- 1Turn off location sharing immediately and review all apps for location permissions.
- 2If location data has been shared with an unknown or concerning person, change all privacy settings and report the person to the platform.
- 3If there is any indication that someone may use the information to locate your child, contact the police on 101 (or 999 if there is an immediate risk).
Related topics
If you need to report this
In immediate danger: call 999. For non-emergency police matters, call 101.
Concerned about a child but it's not an emergency? NSPCC helpline 0808 800 5000. Childline for young people 0800 1111.
This is practical educational content to support families. For case-specific concerns about a child's safety, contact the NSPCC helpline on 0808 800 5000 or your local safeguarding team.
Myths & facts
Myth: The more location sharing, the safer my child is.
Fact: Sharing location with family can be genuinely useful, but broadcasting it to peers or publicly on apps is a different thing entirely — it can expose routines, home and school to people you'd never choose. The question isn't whether to share location, but with whom.
Myth: My child would know if an app was sharing where they are.
Fact: Location leaks quietly: through map features on social apps, tags added to posts, and permissions granted once and forgotten. It's worth reviewing app location permissions together every so often, because there's rarely an obvious ongoing signal.
Myth: Tracking my child's phone secretly is the safest approach.
Fact: Covert tracking tends to backfire — children find out, feel spied on, and respond by leaving the phone behind or using a friend's, which leaves you with less information and less trust. An open agreement about when and why you can see their location works better.
Age by age
- 8-10
You control the device at this age: turn location off for apps and the camera unless it's genuinely needed, and teach the rule that where they live and go to school is private information online.
- 11-13
When social apps arrive, deal with map and live-location features straight away — agree that sharing with family is fine but public or whole-friend-list sharing is not, and check together who can currently see them.
- 14-16
Renegotiate openly as independence grows: agree when family location sharing applies and when it doesn't, and talk about posting in real time versus posting after leaving a place, especially around parties and events.
- 17-plus
Move towards location sharing by mutual consent rather than parental default. Many friendship groups share locations with each other on nights out — talk about doing that deliberately and keeping the audience small.
Frequently Asked Questions
Related Resources
Sources
Was this page helpful?
Explore more
Stay informed on this topic
Get practical child safety updates in your inbox. No spam.