How Life360 Helped Me Find My Friend's Phone on Sugarloaf Mountain
It was opening day at Sugarloaf Mountain, and my friends and I were excited to ski the first day of the year. We hopped on the chairlift and headed up the mountain, chatting and enjoying the view. About halfway up, my friend took out his phone on the chairlift, and attempted to put it back in his pocket. Since he had his thick gloves on, he didn't have a great grip, and dropped his phone.
We watched as his phone fell off the lift and disappeared into the snow below. It was funny at first, until the reality of the situation kicked in. We began to panic, he had just got this new phone for his recent birthday. We then remembered that we had created a Life360 group for all of our friends. Life360 is a location-tracking app that allows friends and family to share their live locations with each other.
Once we reached the top of the mountain, we opened the app and tracked the phone's location. It showed the phone just off the trail, deep in the woods. We skied down as close as we could, and quickly realized we'd have to leave our skis behind and hike into the trees. It wasn’t easy in full ski gear, if you've ever skied you know how clunky and awkward the boots are. We were about a 15 minute hike off the trail into the woods at this point, and we were exhausted. We pinned the phone's location down to a spot that was uphill, meaning we'd have to climb up rocks in our ski boots. I volunteered to climb up to retrieve it, since not everyone needed to.
I found the phone and it was in perfect condition! It turned on and worked as if it had never fallen. I also randomly found a crumpled $20 bill lying on a nearby tree stump (true story!). We used the bonus money to buy ourselves a well deserved snack at the base of the mountain and took a rest.
The Benefits of Life360
Locating Lost Items & Travel Safety
Life360 can be a huge help when searching for a phone, person, or something else! For friends or families traveling together, it can provide an easy way to find each other if you get separated. My family uses it all the time, when we go traveling there is usually a lot of us, so it's easy to see what everyone is up to without constantly checking in over text or phone calls.
Emergency Situations
Life360 Crash Detection is a free service that can detect when you’ve been in an accident and asks if you’re ok.
In 2023 alone:
1,376,753 SOS Help Alerts were sent
298,071 crashes were detected
68,200 people used Roadside Assistance
1,056 emergency teams were dispatched
A Personal Experience with Life360 Crash Detection
Later in the ski season, my friends and I wrapped up after a long day of skiing. By the time we were on the road headed home, it was dark, and thick snow had begun to fall, limiting visibility on the roads. We were turning a corner when a semi-trailer truck coming from the opposite direction drifted into our lane. To avoid a head-on collision, we swerved off the road and slid into a ditch.
We plowed through a bush, small trees, and various other obstacles that completely gutted the car's undercarriage. When we finally came to a stop, the car was completely silent. I sat in the passenger seat, too stunned to move. None of us spoke for what felt like minutes as we tried to process what had just happened.
Suddenly, my phone jolted us out of it. A loud noise coming from my phone broke the silence. My screen had lit up with the message: “Crash Detection: Contacting Authorities. Tap to cancel.” The loud alarm sound snapped us out of it and into action. Thankfully, no one was hurt, but the car ended up being totaled.
The Downsides to Life360
Privacy Invasion
Constant location tracking like this can feel super invasive, especially for younger kids or teenagers or who value independence. Sharing your location 24/7 means you’re always being monitored, especially with the feature where you can go back and see all of the places you've been in the last 24 hours with the exact timestamps.
Data Privacy Concerns
Life360 is used by over 30 million parents, and has been accused of selling user location data to third-party brokers. It promotes itself as a family based safety platform, but continues to face backlash for its data practices, which raises bigger concerns about privacy and trust in parental tracking apps. If this data is hacked or sold, it could lead to serious privacy breaches
One ex-engineer for X-mode claims that Life360 sold precise user location data, earning $16 million in 2020.
Striking a Balance Between Safety and Privacy
My experience on Sugarloaf Mountain showed me how valuable Life360 can be in certain situations. It helped us locate a lost phone quickly and turned what could have been a disaster into a funny and memorable story. However, it’s important to recognize the potential downsides of location tracking, including privacy concerns and over-reliance on technology.
Tracking apps like Life360 can be powerful tools for safety and convenience, but they should be used carefully. By taking steps to protect our privacy and being mindful of how we share our data, we can enjoy the benefits of these apps without sacrificing our personal boundaries.
Sources
- Life360 - Features and Crash Detection.
- https://www.life360.com
- Life360 - 2023 Stats
- https://www.life360.com
- The Markup - Life360 Is Selling Precise Location Data on Its Users.
- https://themarkup.org
- Life 360 Negatives
- https://community.hubitat.com/t/a-word-of-warning-about-life-360/139250
- https://www.quora.com/Many-teens-are-saying-the-Life360-app-should-be-banned-because-it-allows-parents-to-track-them-obsessively-How-do-you-feel-about-the-Life-360-app-Should-parents-use-it
- https://yourteenmag.com/family-life/discipline/i-quit-life360 https://www.mspy.com/blog/life360-app-is-selling-user-data/
- https://www.mspy.com/blog/life360-app-is-selling-user-data/