App to find location of friends and family

[Dave_97865]

My wife and I just switched from Android phones to Windows 8 phones. We were using Google Latitude to see one another's locations. (We both have long commutes and want to make sure we're ok without calling all the time.) Is there a similar app or functionality for WP8? Hoping it works better than Latitude. Tried gMaps but that's even worse. We also tried FourSquare, but I'm not sure if that's going to do it or not. Checkin locations seem wrong or slow to update. Aren't there apps specifically made for this?

I know I can check my own phones location by going to windowsphone.com; but, isn't there an app that does the same thing for multiple phones?

 

[George Ponder]

If you're on the AT&T Network, they offer FamilyMap.

Can't see any apps. I think there's a security restriction in the OS that only allows you to find your own phone.

 

[inteller]

that is subscription based dreck and tied to one (horrible) carrier.

 

[Raduc78]

I used to use Glympse on Iphone and Android, and it worked really good. I know they have a version for windows phone 7 but I have no idea if it works for windows 8 yet.

 

[tk-093]

Looks like it's available for WP8.
Glympse | Windows Phone Apps+Games Store (United States)

 

[JamesDax]

I believe T-Mobile has a similar App to the one AT&T has.

 

[jgraves4480]

You'd figure by now they would have this down pat. But no we have to tell them what to do. My wife and I use find my friends just because you never know when some psychotic idiot may do something stupid. They should already have this as an OS integration. We have drones roaming the skies, but no simple share my GPS location settings with so and so! Really! We must be heading back to the dark ages. IOS 6 is dead on the money for us though. Just wish I could use find my friends on my 8x.

 

[jhguth]

i think you are overestimating the number of people who want this feature, although I would like to use it to. Not so much for finding friends, but I used it for breadcrumbs on trips.

 

[Dave_97865]

Well, I have Verizon. I see some apps that seem to imply they do it. Reviews for them all are mixed, so I'm trying to find a good one.

For instance, there is WiseFinder, which says it updates the phone's position, but only when you login, but it says it can do it in the background, but that requires "Mango". Which I don't know if it works on my phone. Also, it apparently uses just GPS, which consumes more battery, instead of wifi hotspots to get the position.

I'd think an app like this would be pretty basic in the app lineup.

 

[Dave_97865]

I used to use Glympse on Iphone and Android, and it worked really good. I know they have a version for windows phone 7 but I have no idea if it works for windows 8 yet.

I see Glympse in the Store, so I'm downloading it now. It gets great reviews. I'll install it later on the other phone. Thanks.

 

[Dave_97865]

Just to followup, I tried Glympse and several other apps and nothing works like Google Latitude. They all need the user to manually set their location. If this is an intentional security restriction setup by MS, then I disagree with their approach, since the user of the phone knows and has full control over whether to turn it on. When I'm late for work or diverted I'd like my wife to be able to check on where I am and vice versa. I hope MS corrects this problem.

 

[anthonyng]

I thought latitude was one of the coolest things when it first came out. Then my buddies and I realized we didn't want each other to know where we were all the time

 

[mpovolo]

Why not use gmaps pro, it has a latitude login. Work for me.

 

[anthonyng]

gmaps is a really nice google map implementation too, I use it a lot... forgot about latitude

 

[Dave_97865]

Why not use gmaps pro, it has a latitude login. Work for me.

Latitude never worked well for me. Information was sporadic. I was hoping for something better. I guess latitude can suck, since they have no competition.

I bought gMaps Pro, mostly for street view. Latitude seems to pick up only the last location registered by an Android phone (or PC possibly). gMaps/Google said it doesn't do secondary hops. My wife's location is 3 weeks old.

I guess I just need to forget it, since apparently MS says location info is too much for us to handle.

 

[foxbat121]

Ms did published some app for wp7. The biggest problem for this type of app is privacy concern and law suits. That's just a bees nest no one want to touch. You can use find my windows phone feature to locate other family member but it is not easy to use.
Sent from my RM-820_nam_canada_246 using Board Express

 

[MorbidFun]

Since you both have a WP8 an alternative that may work as a stopgap is to setup your My Family on the Windows Phone site. After that you can go, from your phone, to the Windows Phone page, select the phone you wish to find, and select Find My Phone. As long as their phone is on (is my understanding) it will show their location.
A stupid thing to have to do, but thought it may help.

 

[inteller]

Microsoft can and should do this through a combination of the find my phone and family safety features.

 

[santillanavila1993]

This might not be the perfect solution but you can text each other your location. There is an option to do that within the texting menu. Just go to attachments and then tap on location. I guess this is Microsoft's solution for sharing your location.

 

[Dave_97865]

MorbidFun, Hi, I'm just trying to navigate the Windows Phone website in order to add a family member and it only allowed me to add a kid. So I went ahead and added my wife as a kid since I saw no other option. Then AFTER that I had the option to add a parent. But naturally I then had to remove her as a kid first. Then it takes me to links that have screenshots instead of actual pages. It's funny. Naviagation on that site is completely bonkers.

But bottom line is, it's true, I can just login as my wife on WindowsPhone.com to see her location... awsome 'security'. Her telling me her password so I can see her location is no different than her giving me permission to see her location with an App, which is what Apps for other phones already do.

In response to others' comments about security...

One fantastic 'security' feature I've seen is that weeks after leaving windowsphone.com I openned up Chrome and it let me right in under my own account. Another great 'security' feature provided by MS with my work email is, when logging out of our web based email, come back to it later, it lets you right in again without a password. Yeah MS is really secuirty conscious (sarcasm).

But I Jest. MS is great. They just make me laugh sometimes.