It’s 10 p.m. — and you definitely know where your children are.
Thanks to a proliferation of location-sharing apps, it’s become easy for parents, partners and pals to sneakily pinpoint the exact location of their loved ones at any moment — without them even knowing.
Check your device: It’s likely these apps, like iPhone’s Find My Friends, are already preinstalled on your smartphone, too. So don’t be surprised if a nosy pal has been following your whereabouts.
For some, the capability isn’t creepy, it’s embraced; They’re using free tools to track their friends for convenience and safety purposes — as well as for fun.
“I legit ask for everyone’s location and always share it,” Maria-Camila Garcia, 21, told The Post. “Having someone’s location is the way you know you’re really friends.”
Location tracking can lead to a lot of drama, too. People complained to The Post about issues with reciprocation, being caught somewhere you wanted to go privately and the daunting task of cutting connections during a feud.
“I absolutely use it to avoid my roommates — and know when to not go to a certain place,” Garcia, an East Village resident, confessed.
Most Americans (89%) say their lives benefit from location sharing — that’s according to research conducted by location app Life360, which boasts 80 million active users as of last month.
However, a generational gap can come into play.
“My millennial parents think it makes sense and track me to this day,” Garcia said, “but my grandparents actually think we are insane.”
From a life-saving text message to gamification or a friendship-ending moment, here are some of the ways location-sharing apps have dramatically impacted people’s lives.
Parents’ peace of mind
Jennifer Long, 51, has followed her two children — now 18 and 16 — on Life360 since they began walking home from middle school in Connecticut.
“Here in Greenwich, most parents have this on their kids’ phones. It’s very common,” she told The Post, noting that it provides an “extra level” of comfort for her — and some independence for her children.
When her older daughter, Audrey, moved to Manhattan for college several months ago, she decided to stay linked to her mom — but doesn’t let her friends track her.
“I’m not a big fan. I don’t like my friends seeing where I am at all times,” Audrey said, unlike her sister who uses Snap Map with pals.
But mom’s a different story: Audrey even shares Uber notifications to add another layer of safety, along with carrying pepper spray and a personal alarm.
“It’s a lot crazier,” Audrey told The Post, comparing NYC to Connecticut. “It’s just so important to stay vigilant as a woman.”
However, the arrangement isn’t reciprocal.
When Jennifer’s girls noticed she was “getting some aesthetic work done” one day, the flustered mom blocked her children from tracking her.
“It’s really more about me watching their safety,” Jennifer said.
In case of emergency
Travis Christensen, 38, of Shirley, Arkansas, received a worrying alert from Life360 about his wife Brittney’s location on Jan. 29.
She and their 4-year-old daughter, Delilah “Bug,” were in a “very severe” head-on collision, which caused their Subaru to roll over twice before settling on its side.
Within minutes, he received an app text warning him that it had “detected sudden motion on Britt’s phone,” sending her exact location and suggesting Travis call to check on her.
He immediately tried to contact his wife, called 911 and then jumped into his car.
Before he’d even completed the 45-minute drive, first responders were able to rescue his wife and child and call him to confirm they were safe — miraculously, without any major injuries.
“Because I got that early notification, I actually met my wife and daughter when they were still being evaluated by the first responders,” Travis marveled. “I was able to get there so quickly.”
Travis and Brittney first began tracking each other a decade ago when he was on active military duty. They now follow their four phone-free children — ages 10, 8, 7 and 4 — with Tile Trackers on their backpacks, as well as Travis’ RV-traveling father, 73, and mother, 73, and his family’s “escape artist” dog.
“It gives you peace of mind,” Travis said.
Watching friends like Sims
There’s no shame in this game for Morgan Maloney.
“I love collecting my friends like little Pokémons or Sims,” the 38-year-old from Long Island told The Post, echoing a joke making the rounds on social media.
It started purely as an exercise in safety, she explained — like making sure friends get home safe from a party or a late-night work shift.
Now, though, it’s mostly “just for fun,” the millennial admitted.
And while some people don’t want to be tracked and have declined to opt in — like Maloney’s 26-year-old brother — she still likes checking where her loved ones are.
“Now I have a little collection,” she joked.
FOMO: Tracking friends out on the town
Shounak Vale, 28, of Long Island City gets slightly offended when friends don’t allow his digital surveillance.
Recently, Vale received a text from his bestie who saw him nearby on Find My Friends. That’s when Vale realized his BFF didn’t allow a follow-back.
“How is it fair that you know where I am, but I don’t know where you are?” asked Vale, who tracks about 25 of his friends. After some prodding, his buddy gave in and allowed Vale to track him.
“I think it’s super helpful,” he said, “mostly because New York seems to be a city where everyone’s doing something at all times.”
Being ‘nosy’
Lexi Stout, 33, tracks about 35 friends and family members because she’s “nosy.”
“It’s like a social media channel. I go from TikTok to Instagram, and then I go [to Find My Friends]. So it’s just kind of in my rotation of wondering, ‘What’s everyone doing?’” the Upper West Sider said.
“I catch my [out of town] friends in the McDonald’s drive-thru a lot, and I’ll be, like, ‘Can you pick me up a burger?’ as a joke,” said Stout, who said tracking buds on a map is “kind of just like a game for me.”
She’s also been caught in the awkward stand-off when friendships end — Find My Finds time stamps when someone stops sharing their location with you in iMessage chats.
“I didn’t want her to know where I was all the time, but I also didn’t want to be a b – – ch,” she said. “It’s like really slamming the door.”
Stout eventually had enough liquid courage one night to close the door on the friendship. “I don’t need that safety anymore from that person,” she said.
Helping elderly parents
Millennial Farrah Fawx, who lives in Los Angeles, first shared her location with family and friends in 2019 so they could keep track of her on a solo European backpacking trip.
But after her mother Myron G., who is in her 70s, was diagnosed with several ailments the next year, checking the app became a part of Fawx’s routine.
“Her becoming sick has made me more mindful to check in. It became kind of a ritual for me,” the 30-something-year-old told The Post.
Farrah checks that her mom, who lives across the country in Richmond, Va., makes it home safe from long drives and on time to doctors’ appointments.
“It’s kind of how my mom is still my emergency contact, even though she’s 3,000 miles away,” she told The Post, explaining that even from across the country, she would know who to call and what information was needed in any emergency.
“It’s being able to have that connection without being too on top of each other.”
