iCurfew is a great $0.99 iPhone application for parents who want to be “in the know” about their children’s whereabouts. In short, the app works by determining the user’s location via GPS and then letting them send this information to their parents (up to three recipients can get the message) so that their parents can feel safer knowing where their child is. Further, the app’s simplicity is what makes this less of a chore (and not too complex for the multitasking kid who would want to “check in” and then continue texting his friends). You open the app, hit “check in now,” let the app find where you are and tap “send my location”, and then send the application to a preselected contact or new person.
The iCurfew app is limited to iPhone users only. iPod touch users cannot take advantage of the capabilities since GPS is needed. However, it’s a great way for parents to keep tabs on their kids without having to go through drastic measures and implant some kind of data board in their kid’s skulls (I used to think that when my son is older that I should invest in this sort of technology!) You kind of wonder how we survived when we were younger! iCurfew takes out the guesswork of locating your child since you can’t fake the location (and I can imagine that it’d be a lifesaver if you were lost, perhaps). The only thing that’d make this better is if it was a full-blown GPS tracker with a way to check in via website at your child’s location. However, Apple doesn’t allow multitasking on the iPhone, making that an impossibility for the time being. Plus, this application assumes that there’s some trust between parent and teenager, and it certainly does a great job.
