Safe & Found

Installing the app on your child’s device will increase location accuracy and provide all the new parental controls and location features. If you only want the location features, you do not need to install the app on the child device as long as the phone(s)/people you’re locating are on your Sprint/T-Mobile account.

Safe & Found works with any wireless provider as long as the app is installed on the device. If you choose to use the service without the app installed, you can only track phones that are associated with your Sprint/ T-Mobile account, and all the other features won’t be available.

To add a family member:

1. Open the Safe & Found app on the “Parent” device, choose on the family icon and select Invite a New Member.
2. The Recommended tab will include all the devices on your Sprint/ T-Mobile account, or you can choose from contacts in your device Address Book or add by typing in the member’s name, email or phone number.
3. If you opt to have the app installed on the “Child” device by choosing SEND, an invite will be sent to the “Child” device with an invite code along with instructions on how to download the app.  If you select NOT to install the app, no further action is required.

To remove a family member:

1. Open the Safe & Found app on the “Parent” device, choose on the family icon and select Invite a New Member.
2. Long press the member that you’d like to remove.

1. From the Parental Control or Family Members view, choose the member that requires the device.
2. A screen will open up with instructions on how to install the app on the “Child” device.  Please note that after going through this process, the family member will appear twice in the family member list.
3. Delete the profile without the battery indicator.

Yes, but the parent’s password is required. All phones can uninstall the application or turn off location services without a password.

Any user who knows the account password will be able to set the parental controls on any device in the family.

• This allows for multiple parents in a family to be able to update parental controls for the kids!
• This means it does not matter which device the initial account was set up on. Note: When signing in on the web, the phone number that is being billed will be the username for the account.
• The password can be changed via the settings page in the Safe and Found app.
• To change the password, they will need to know the initial password that was sent via text when Safe and Found app was set up.
• In settings, change password, and share that password only with "parents". Do not share with "children" on the account.

Safe & Found lets you create and monitor virtual safety areas such as home, school, and work. For example, parents who want to know if (and when) their child arrives at school can be notified when their child enters or leaves a school-defined safety area. Another safety area may monitor the home of an elderly relative so you can be notified when that family member enters or leaves their home.

There are three ways to set a safety area: from the Safe & Found menu, from the quick-action menu, and by using a device's current location.

To set a safety area from the menu, follow these steps:

1. Select the 3-bar menu icon at the top left of the Safe & Found screen and select Location Alerts.
2. Select Safety Areas, and then Create Safety Area.
3. Enter an address and a name for the desired safety area.
4. If desired, expand or reduce the safety area by manipulating the pink dot. (The minimum area is 495 feet.)
5. Select Next.
6. Choose which family members trigger the safety area alert, and which events (arriving or leaving) apply.
7. Select Create.

To set a safety area from the quick-action menu, follow these steps:

1. Select the plus icon on the Family Hub or Family Map.
2. Select Safety Areas, and then Create Safety Area.
3. Enter an address and a name for the desired safety area.
4. If desired, expand or reduce the safety area by manipulating the pink dot. (The minimum area is 495 feet.)
5. Select Next.
6. Choose which family members trigger the safety area alert, and which events (arriving or leaving) apply.
7. Select Create.

To set a safety area from a device's current location, follow these steps:

1. Select the desired family member's icon on the Family Hub.
2. Select the device icon on the map. A pop-up box appears with the device's current address.
3. Select Save Area.
4. Enter a name for the safety area.
5. If desired, expand or reduce the safety area by manipulating the pink dot. (The minimum area is 495 feet.)
6. Select Next.
7. Choose which family members trigger the safety area alert, and which events (arriving or leaving) apply.
8. Select Create.

From the left menu, select Location Alerts > Safety Areas. Choose the Safety Area you want to delete and then select DELETE.

Smaller Safety Areas may conflict with the location accuracy on the phone, leading to in-out jumps as the location accuracy radius may be bigger than the size of the Safety Area.

There are two ways to remove a device:

• From the left menu, Select Devices. Select the desired device and then Select Remove Device.
• From the Family Hub, Select the profile containing the device. Select Devices. Select the desired device and then Select Remove Device.

Android

1. From home screen: Touch and hold S&F app icon, choose App Info, then select Uninstall.
2. From Device settings: In Manage Apps, select the S&F app, then choose Uninstall.

iOS

1. Touch and hold the S&F app, then choose Delete > Confirm.

From the Family Hub, select the family member’s profile. Choose the Settings icon to display the Edit Profile screen and make changes.

Timelines allow you to see the path a device has followed between two locations.

When viewing a map, Select on either the Satellite or Map icon located in the top right-hand corner of the map to switch between the two view options. The map displays street view by default.

When you dismiss the ring message or open the Safe & Found app, the device stops ringing.

iOS inhibits the ability to override certain phone settings.

Contact Customer Care to ask to have your service cancelled.

Your child won't know when you've located them. However, during setup of the Safe & Found app on the child’s device, the child must accept the permission allowing the app to monitor their location and share it with family members.

The Safe & Found app requires consent from all parties to be downloaded to their devices. The permission that lets the app determine a phone’s location is controlled in the phone’s settings, not the Safe & Found app. Consequently, your child can deny that permission and effectively block their location from being seen. Your child can also uninstall the app. However, if a child attempts to uninstall the app while their phone is connected to the Internet, Safe & Found sends a notification to parents about the attempt. If a parent has set Parental Controls for a child’s phone, they cannot prevent a tech-savvy child from circumventing some of the controls.

The key to cooperative participation is to discuss the benefits of Safe & Found with your children so they understand how the app keeps their family connected, safe, and informed. Emphasize benefits from your child’s point of view. Explain how they can check in with parents by simply choosing a button (rather than calling or texting), or send an SOS alert if in danger. Show them how the location feature can help find their phone if lost. Explain how Parental Controls help block Internet sites that could infect their devices with malware. These discussions are also an opportunity to explain additional safety guidelines, so children understand how to keep themselves protected while online.

First remove the device from the account and then delete the Safe & Found app on the child’s device. Next go to the child’s profile, Select Devices, and then select Add New Device. This time, select the Use Approximate Location Only option when adding the device to their profile

When Safe & Found is installed on the phone being located, the app uses information collected from the device's GPS, Wi-Fi network connection and cellular network connection to determine the location. If the Safe & Found app is not installed on the phone being located, the cellular network connection and GPS is used to determine location.

Yes, if:

• Safe & Found is installed on the device you want located
• The device has location turned on
• The device is connected to the Internet.

To change whether a particular device is sharing its location:

1. Open the Safe & Found app on the device you do not want located
2. Choose on the Setting icon and turn off "Share this phone's location"
3. If it is a "Child" phone, the Safe & Found password will need to be entered

If the Save & Found app is not installed on the device, its location can still be identified as long as the device:

• Is powered on
• Is connected to your Sprint/ T-Mobile account
• Has adequate network signal
• Has been added to your Safe & Found family

Whoever sets up the Safe & Found account (the account owner) can skip creating their own profile, or later delete their profile, to remain invisible to other family members in the app. The account owner can simply log into the app with the account credentials to locate family members, set Parental Controls, and manage the account.

If Safe & Found is installed on the phone being located:

• Check the timestamp to see if the location is current. Make sure GPS is on.
• For Android devices, make sure GPS is set on “high accuracy.” iOS devices don't have an additional setting; just make sure Location Services for the app are enabled.
• Having Wi-Fi turned on can also increase precision. If location fails to update, open the app, and ping someone's location. Daily safety checks on an iOS "Child" device are recommended to help provide more accurate location tracking on iOS devices.

If Safe & Found is not installed on the phone being located:

The strength and accuracy of all the signals used to find locations can be affected if the phone whose location you want to see is:

• Inside a building or vehicle
• Surrounded by hills or tall buildings
• Near a large body of water

For Android devices, for both the “Parent” and “Child” device, be sure that “high accuracy” location is selected for your Location method setting.
For greater accuracy, consider installing the app on the phone to be located.

If Safe & Found is installed on the phone you want located:

• Location services on the phone or tablet might be off.
• The device itself may be off or the battery may be dead.
• Please also see other location Q&As above.

If Safe & Found is not installed on the phone to be located:

• The device itself may be off or the battery may be dead.
• The device may be out of range of cellular service.

Consider installing the app on the phone you want located for improved location accuracy.

If you still cannot locate a device, remove and re-add the family member.

Yes, you can choose whether to share your location by following these steps:

1. Select your profile icon on the Family Hub.
2. Choose the Settings icon.
3. Under Profile Settings, use the toggle switch next to the Share (profile name's) location with all family members option to turn location sharing on or off.

Note that Child profile settings are managed by users with Admin profiles.

From the Family Hub, Select the Menu icon in the top left-hand corner of the screen. Select Family Activity. Select All to view all family activity or Select an individual family member to see their personal activity. Use the calendar at the top of the screen to filter the history by days of the week.

You can also view a family member's three most recent History events in the History section of their profile details. Select See All to view the family member's entire activity history in Family Activity.

If your child's device has the Safe & Found app installed, the location results will indicate a street address.
However, location accuracy depends on a number of factors, including but not limited to:

• Child device has good connectivity to data network
• Child device has Location setting ON
• Child device has Precise Location enabled (at least iOS 14 or Android 12)
• Safe & Found app has permission to always access child's device location
• Safe & Found app has Background App Refresh turned ON (iOS only)
• Battery optimization is turned OFF (Android only)

If location fails to update, open the app and ping someone's location. Daily safety checks on an iOS "Child" device are recommended to help provide more accurate location tracking.
For Android devices, make sure GPS is set on “high accuracy” and turn off battery optimization. iOS devices don't have an additional setting.

Wi-fi is the signal that provides the best accuracy within or close to buildings. A phone can detect a Wi-Fi router (even if it’s not connected to it) and map it to a known location for that router.

Closing the app completely can cause the operating system, especially iOS, to block the app from activating to provide a more precise location. We recommend leaving the app open in the background on devices you wish to locate precisely.

No, Safe & Found cannot track phones that are turned off.

When enabled Battery Saver (sometimes called Battery Optimization) can stop Safe & Found from activating to respond to location requests when Safe & Found is running in the background on the device.

The notifications to “Child” phones or tablets can be turned off from within the Child app. In the app, go to Settings to turn on or off the notifications from all family members.

Notifications could be delayed due to system checks or location notifications could be turned off. Enable your notifications as follows:

• Select your profile icon on the Family Hub.
• Choose the Settings icon.
• Under Profile Settings, enable the desired location notifications.

Wi-Fi isn't required to use Safe & Found; however, it can help with location accuracy. Within the notification, you can select to not receive these notices.

You can reduce the number of notifications you receive as follows:

1. Select your profile icon on the Family Hub.
2. Choose the Settings icon.
3. Under Profile Settings, use the toggle switch next to the (profile name) receives their own notifications option to turn off notifications when you enter or leave safety areas.

You can reduce notifications on your child's device as follows:

1. Select your child's profile icon on the Family Hub.
2. Choose the Settings icon.
3. Under Profile Settings, use the toggle switch next to the Receive push notifications from other family members option to turn off notifications from family members.

You may need to reset or increase the size of your notification area if in a building where signal is not strong. If you have been making updates to your phone or tablet, this might have inadvertently impacted location.
You may have unknowingly toggled your location on or off, which can happen when going into airplane mode.

• The notification area could be too large, so no change in location is noted.
• Notifications could be delayed due to system checks.
• Location notifications could be turned off.

You might need to reset the size of your notification area if you're in a building where the signal isn't strong.

• You might need to increase the size of your notification area.
• You could have made updates to your phone that inadvertently impacted location.
• You might have unknowingly toggled your location on/off. For example, this can happen when going into airplane mode.

Your password can be retrieved on https://safeandfound.sprint.com/ or using the app. Select Forgot Password?” after entering your phone number. If you still can’t log in, contact T-Mobile Customer Care.

• This usually happens when you’ve just upgraded to a new device and already has a maximum number of family members in the app.
• Remove the old device from the app and you’ll be able to add the new one.

If you block all apps or sets the Block apps rating at 4+ on iOS, the Safe & Found app will also be blocked. Select the 9+ and up category in the app to avoid this issue.

Location services on the phone or tablet might be off or there is no connection to the internet. The device itself may be off or the battery may be completely drained. Please also see the How can I improve the location accuracy Q&A for additional tips.

Android version 9.x to 12.x / iOS version 13.x to 15.x

Because of the inherent differences between the Android and iOS operating system, Safe & Found on Android and Apple devices vary as follows.

• App permissions for iOS and Android are slightly different.
• The method of preventing child devices from uninstalling the Safe & Found app is different for iOS and Android devices.
• Parents are notified of the following app evasion attempts if their child has an Android device:
  • Child turned on developer mode
  • Child switched user accounts
  • Child entered a different time zone, or manually changed their time zone

Sometimes Apple may change the way it allows apps to run in the background or the type of location permissions (for instance precise location or “always allow”). Upon release of a new iOS version, Safe & Found updates the app to comply with the new changes. It is important for users to open the app from time to time to check if actions are needed (the app will prompt the user in that case).