Kin: Family Location Sharing
Kin is a free family location-sharing app for iPhone and Android. It shows everyone in your circle on one live map with how old and how accurate each position is, plus places with arrive and leave alerts, check-ins and SOS. No ads, no subscription and no account.
Coming soon to the App Store and Google Play. Made by Artizco, a one-person studio. Last updated 29 October 2026.
What Kin does
- Honest positions. Every dot says how old it is ("now", "7 min ago") and how accurate it is, with battery level, distance and directions.
- Places that don't cry wolf. Unlimited places. Arrive and leave alerts wait two minutes, so driving past Home is not an arrival.
- Check-ins. "Home safe" or your own note with your position in one tap, or ask everyone to check in.
- SOS to your circle. Hold two seconds; your circle gets your position and the time. A countdown lets you cancel.
- Private drives. Distance, time, top speed and hard brakes from GPS, seen only by the driver. Nobody gets graded.
- A pause everyone can see. Pause any time; the circle sees "Paused sharing 20 min ago". Mute one person's alerts; SOS always comes through.
- 7 days of history, free. No tiers and nothing behind a paywall.
What Kin doesn't do
- No crash detection and no emergency dispatch. SOS goes to your circle; a separate button opens your phone's dialer.
- No push alerts to a closed app yet. Alerts show while Kin is open; missed ones wait on the map and in Activity.
- One circle per phone. No Apple Watch or kids-without-phones mode.
Kin vs Life360
Kin is free with no ads and no tiers; Life360 is a free app with paid memberships that add places, longer history, crash dispatch and roadside help. Kin gives everyone unlimited places and 7 days of history but has no crash detection or emergency dispatch.
| Feature | Kin | Life360 |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free, no in-app purchases | Free app; Silver $9.99, Gold $16.99, Platinum $24.99 |
| Places with alerts | Unlimited | 2 on Silver, unlimited on Gold |
| Location history | 7 days | 2 days on Silver, 30 days on Gold |
| SOS to family | Yes, free | Listed as a Silver feature |
| Crash detection | No | Yes; emergency dispatch on Gold |
| Emergency dispatch | No; a button opens your dialer | 24/7 on Gold |
| Alerts while the app is closed | Not yet; missed alerts wait in Activity | Yes |
| Arrival alerts | After two minutes at a place | Reviewers report false "arrived" alerts |
| Wrong or stale positions | Every position shows its age and accuracy | The most common complaint in the reviews we read (about 95 of 749) |
| Ads and upsells | None | Reviewers report ads and upgrade pop-ups, for paying members too |
| Account | None; an 8-letter circle code | Sign-in account |
| Data used to track you (App Store label) | None | Identifiers |
| Several circles | One per phone | Yes |
Life360 prices, plan features and privacy label are from its US App Store page, checked 29 October 2026; prices are monthly and vary by country. Review counts are from 749 Life360 App Store reviews we read on 28 October 2026.
Pick Life360 if you need crash detection, emergency dispatch, 30 days of history, several circles or alerts while the app is closed. Pick Kin if you want honest positions, unlimited places and SOS without ads or a subscription.
Questions
What is a good Life360 alternative without ads?
Kin is a family location-sharing app with no ads, no in-app purchases and no subscription tiers. Unlimited places with arrive and leave alerts, 7 days of history, check-ins and SOS to your circle are free for everyone. It has no crash detection or emergency dispatch; if you rely on those, Life360 offers both (dispatch on its Gold plan).
How can I see my family's location without a subscription?
Install Kin on each phone, start a circle and share its 8-letter code. Everyone in the circle sees each other on one live map, free, with no account or password. The built-in options, Find My on iPhone and location sharing in Google Maps, are free too; Kin adds places with alerts, check-ins and SOS, and one circle can mix iPhone and Android.
Does Kin work when the app is closed?
Sharing can: turn on "Also while Kin is closed" in Settings and allow location "Always", and Kin keeps sending your position about once a minute or every 50 m. Alerts can't yet: they reach your phone while Kin is open, and anything you missed, SOS included, waits on the map and in Activity the next time you open it.
Is Kin really free?
Yes. Kin has no ads, no in-app purchases and no subscription. Unlimited places, every alert, check-ins, SOS, drives and 7 days of history are included for everyone.
How fresh and accurate are positions in Kin?
Every position shows its age ("now", "7 min ago") and an accuracy radius from the phone's GPS, so an old dot never looks current. While Kin is open it updates every 15 seconds or 25 m of movement. A phone that is off, out of signal or in Low Power Mode sends less often, and Kin shows that age rather than guessing.
Why didn't I get an alert when someone drove past Home?
On purpose. Arrive and leave alerts wait until someone has been inside or outside a place for two minutes, so passing by is not an arrival. You can add as many places as you like and choose arrive, leave or both for each one.
Can my teen pause location sharing, and will I know?
Yes, and yes. Anyone can pause sharing at any time, and the circle sees "Paused sharing 20 min ago" instead of a stale position. There is no hidden pause, so nobody has to sneak and nobody is left guessing.
Does Kin have crash detection?
No. A phone can't detect every crash, and a missed one does more harm than a feature that was never promised. Kin records drives from GPS (distance, time, top speed and hard brakes) for the driver only, and the circle sees a one-line summary.
Does Kin's SOS call the police or 911?
No. Holding SOS for two seconds alerts your circle with your position and the time, after a countdown you can cancel. A separate "Call emergency services" button opens your phone's dialer with your local number; the call is yours to place.
Does Kin sell or share my location data?
No. Kin has no ads, no analytics, no tracking and no data sales. Your position goes only to the people in your circle, and Kin keeps 7 days of history. Crash reports carry no name, position or member id.
How do I add my family?
Open Kin, tap Invite and share the 8-letter code. Each person installs Kin, chooses "Join with a code" and types it. iPhone and Android phones can share one circle.
Does Kin drain my battery?
By default Kin only uses location while it is open. Sharing while Kin is closed uses more battery; on Android it shows a notification while it runs. Kin also shows each person's battery level and tells the circle when a phone runs low.
How do I delete my data?
Settings, Delete everything. Kin deletes your positions, events and member record from the server, then erases everything on your phone. If the server can't be reached, nothing is deleted and Kin tells you.
Contact
Email kin@artizco.com. We answer within two working days.
Privacy
No ads, no analytics, no tracking. Read the Kin privacy policy.