Find & manage your child's location

You can change your child's Android device location settings. If certain location settings are turned on, you can find your child's Android device location in the Family Link app.

Find your child's Android device

If you're a parent, you can find your child's Android device location in Family Link once device location sharing is turned on.

1. Open the Family Link app .
2. Tap Location  Set up.
3. If you have multiple children, select which ones you want to turn on location sharing for.
4. Tap Turn on.

Tip: It might take some time to find your child's device location.

Change your child's location settings

Important: To find your child's Android device location in the Family Link app, you must first set up location sharing. Learn how to set up location sharing.

1. Open the Family Link app .
2. Tap Location.
3. Select your child.
4. At the top right, tap More Location settings.
5. Turn See your child’s location on or off.

Tips:

• When you add parental supervision to your child’s existing Google Account and grant the location sharing permission, your child can use Google Location sharing in Google Maps to share their location with you and other parents in the Family Group. Learn more about Location sharing in Google Maps.
• Your child can also use device location to get better info on their phone, like nearby restaurants and local search results. Learn more about device location settings.

Get the most accurate location of your child’s device

Important: Accuracy adjustments are available only on pre-version 9 Android devices.

1. Open the Family Link app .
2. Tap Location.
3. Select your child.
4. At top right, tap More Location settings.
5. Select your child’s device.
6. Select High accuracy.

Set up a family place

1. Open the Family Link app .
2. Select your child.
3. Tap Location Family places New place.
4. Enter a new address into the search box.
5. Select the correct address from the auto-populated results.
6. Name the new location in the “Location label” text box.
7. Tap Done .

Tips:

• You can select Add school or Add home to add known locations easily.
• You can't create multiple family places for locations with the same address.
• You can't create multiple family places for addresses that are too close together.

Set up location notifications

Important: To set up a location notification, you must first set up a family place. Learn how to set up a family place.

1. Open the Family Link app .
2. Select your child.
3. Tap Location Family places.
4. Select the location you want to add a notification to.
5. Turn Arrives on or off.
6. Turn Leaves on or off.

Tip: Use these alerts to track when your child leaves or arrives at a location.

Troubleshoot problems

I can't find my child's location

Location works best if your child's device has a mobile data plan.

You won’t find your child's location in the Family Link app if:

• Their device is powered off
• Their device isn't connected to the internet
• The device hasn't been used recently 

If you can't find your child's location in the Family Link app:

1. Follow the steps above to turn on the "See your child's location" and "Device location" settings.
2. After you turn the settings on, it might take some time for your child's location to update.

My child's device location is wrong

Step 1: Try these common fixes

1. Make sure the device is connected to the internet.
2. Make sure Wi-Fi is turned on.
3. Restart the phone.

Step 2: Calibrate the device

If your child's location is still wrong, try calibrating the phone's compass.

I want to manage location permissions for my child's apps

Learn how to manage your child's app permissions.

My child has more than one device, but I can only find their location for one of them

Family managers will only find the location for one device at a time. If a child is signed in to their account on more than one device, only the location of the most actively used device is shown.