Which Teen Driver App Should You Trust? 3 of Our Favorites
Bonnie Kenaz-Mara
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They’re still your babies, after all.
It seems like yesterday my toddlers were happily zooming around in their plastic cars. Suddenly I have two teen drivers behind the wheel of 4,000+ pounds of steel. My 15 year old daughter just got her temp permit and is raring to go. My 17 year old son passed all his drivers training years ago, but as a mom, I’ll always have low grade anxiety when my kids may be out doing something potentially dangerous.
Parenting teens is easier than parenting toddlers in some ways. I don’t have to keep them in sight 24/7 and keep them from eating small objects and art supplies. In other ways, it’s much tougher. It’s tough to try to strike a balance between guidance and trust. I want my son and daughter to have autonomy and freedom, yet I still have a strong parental need to keep them safe.
Further reading: 10 things I learned when my teens became drivers.
Enter… the World of Teen Driving Apps.
At first, I was resistant since I don’t want my kids to feel like I’m always spying on them. Then I read that just having a free phone app and knowing parents can access the data makes kids more careful, conscientious drivers. That’s a win in my book!
Distracted driving can be a lethal mistake at any age, but teens are particularly susceptible to cell phone distractions. Teen Driving apps can nix bad habits like texting, messing with music and more before they result in a ticket, a minor fender bender, or worse.
Some apps make driving like a video game, where drivers gain points for driving the speed limit and making safe choices. Some run in the background and limit phone options while the car is in motion. There are loads of great, free apps out now for Apple and Android, programs specific to each cell carrier and many car brands have systems to track driver activity. Here are three of my favorites.
Further reading: Why new safety features are the #1 reason to buy a new(ish) car
Safedrive
From maadotaa.com, for teen drivers, this monitor speed of your teens
Safedrive makes monitoring teenage drivers a snap when both driver and observer install the app. The driver invites the Parent to observer his/her driving behavior. The app automatically measures the driver speed and location and uploads it securely to iCloud. Parents get a notification if the driver exceeds the posted speed limit by more than 5MPH. Set a speed threshold and the instances that the driving speed has exceeded the threshold will be marked as red on the map. You can monitor multiple drivers & get notifications when the driver disables/enables recording the speeds.
The app is free to download but offers a subscription for the driver. Observers (e.g., the parents who monitor the driver) do not need a subscription and can monitor speed recorded by the driver for free. Subscriptions include a free 7-day trial period during which the app is fully functional.
In-app purchase options include monthly auto-renewable subscription for $2.99, two-month auto-renewable subscription $4.99 and a one-time purchase for $9.99.
What you get with the in-app-purchase: Uploading driving speed and location information so that observers (e.g., parents) can monitor speed and location information of drivers.
Size 31.6 MB
Category: Navigation
Compatibility: Requires iOS 9.3 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch
Further reading: I went to driver’s ed and wow, did I have a lot to learn!
TrueMotion Family Safe Driving 4+
From TrueMotion, Inc., free family-oriented driving app that gives you locations and routes, with details on phone use, texting, aggressive driving, speeding, and more.
- With TrueMotion Family you can:
- See where your teen driver is
- See how they got there
- See if your teen is driving responsibly (and if they’re texting or using the phone while driving)
- Engage your entire family by inviting them to your app Family. Friends are welcome too!
- And, see how your teen ranks compared to the rest of your Family.
Car trips are graded using a simple 100 point scale (where 100 is the best score). Teen drivers and their families can use their driving score to gain insights into responsible driving, identify risky behavior, and monitor improvement over time. Other driving behaviors indicative of risk like Aggressive Driving and High Speeds are called out within the app and factored into your score. Seller
Size 58.3 MB
Compatibility
Requires iOS 9.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone
Life360
Life360 is the world’s leading realtime, location-sharing app, and is the best way to coordinate with family and friends.
Get automatic notifications when your family comes and goes from home, work and school, and when they complete drives. As seen on FOX, NBC, CBS, and more!
Use Life360’s Family & Friend Locator to:
- View the realtime location of friends or family members on a private map
- Receive realtime alerts when friends or family arrive or leave home, work, and school
- Share photos and text messages with our secure, private chat
- See past location history for your Circle
- See information after each drive to improve driving safety
- Protect your family while they’re driving with our Crash Detection service
- Track a lost or stolen phone
Life360’s Family & Friend Locator uses state-of-the-art GPS location data to report the realtime whereabouts of your friends and family. Simply install the Family & Friend Locator on everyone’s phone. Once registered, each member appears as a unique icon on the map so you’ll always know where your family members are.
No need to send text messages asking “When will you be home?” The Life360 Family & Friend Locator tells you! Create geo-fence zones around your home, work, school, or anywhere you visit regularly. Whenever someone in your Circle arrives or leaves those locations, you’ll get a notification.
Protect the whole family with our premium Crash Detection service. Using the accelerometer on your phone, Life360 can automatically detect if a car crash has occurred while someone was driving. Our software has been tested in BMW’s crash test facility, and we analyzed data from numerous real life car crashes. When we detect a crash, our trained emergency response agents can call the person involved in the crash within minutes and check if they’re ok. If they need assistance, we can automatically dispatch emergency services directly to their location. We can also contact the driver’s Circle and family immediately after the crash, to give you ultimate peace of mind while your family is on the road.
Life360 has the following subscriptions: Life360 Plus – $2.99/mo, 24.99/yr; Life360 Driver Protect (US) – 7.99/mo, 69.99/yr; Life360 Driver Protect (Non-US) – $4.99/mo, $49.99/yr
Size 253.3 MB
Compatibility
Requires iOS 10.0 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.
Languages
English, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Thai, Turkish, Vietnamese