Life360 is a family location-sharing app launched in 2008, around 50 million monthly active users globally. Headquartered in San Mateo, public on NASDAQ since 2022. Provides real-time location sharing between family members (“circles”), driving reports, crash detection, and SOS features. Acquired Tile (Bluetooth tracker) in 2021 and Jiobit (kids GPS) in 2022.
What it means in practice
Life360’s business model has historically depended on selling location data to data brokers. The 2021 The Markup investigation documented the company selling precise location data of users (including children) to at least a dozen brokers, who resold to advertising networks, retail analytics, and (in at least one documented case) federal law enforcement. The company announced in 2022 it would stop selling precise location data; subsequent reporting suggests the practice continues with adjusted technical approaches (aggregated data with re-identifiability properties). For a high-conflict divorce or post-separation custody arrangement, Life360 in the family circle is a continuous live feed to the controlling parent, and the data trail (where you went, when, for how long) becomes producible discovery material.
Who uses it, and against whom
Customer base: parents tracking teenage drivers (the marketed use case), couples in long-distance relationships, families coordinating school pickup logistics. The misuse pattern: post-separation parents who maintain access to the family circle continue tracking a former partner long after the marriage has ended; abusive partners require Life360 installation as a condition of relationship continuation; controlling parents track adult children with implicit threats over leaving the circle. The data-broker resale pipeline adds a secondary threat: even when family members trust each other, the location history sits with third parties who are not in the trust circle.
What you can change today
If you are in a Life360 circle that includes anyone you would not want viewing your location continuously, leave the circle. Settings, Account, leave or delete (deletion clears the location history server-side, leaving the circle does not). For separations and post-divorce: removing yourself from the family circle is an action that is sometimes interpreted as “hiding something” by the other parent or the court; do this with legal counsel’s awareness if the situation is litigation-adjacent. For ongoing family use: the alternatives that do not sell location data include Apple Find My (Apple-only family), Google Family Link (Google-only family), and dedicated privacy-respecting alternatives like Geozilla or Family Locator without ad-tech monetization.