Is Life360 Safe? The Pros, Cons, and Privacy Risks Explained

If you want to protect your loved ones, see where they are anytime, see how your family is doing, and sleep more peacefully, knowing everything is OK with them – you’ve probably considered using Life360. This family safety app allows doing it all in just a few taps on the smartphone. This is the reason over 75 million people regularly use it.

But let’s not be charmed and soberly look at the app’s pros and cons. Is Life360 safe enough, and how can you protect your family if you opt to go for using it? Keep reading to find out.

Oliver Bennett

Mar 12, 2025

8 min read

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A brief look at Life360 features

Let’s start with reasons why Life360 is that popular. Here’s what the Life360 app offers to users, and what makes this app stand out:

Real-time location tracking and sharing

The app shows the live location of every user in your family circle. This way, you can see if your spouse made it home from work or check if your kids arrived at school or soccer practice.

Real-time location tracking on Life360 app

Place alerts

The app allows setting up common locations like “Home,” “School,” or “Gym.” And whenever family members arrive or leave these locations, users will receive notifications.

In-app messaging

Family members can chat within the app, which means you can keep your location details and messages in one place instead of juggling multiple messengers.

Driver reports

For families with young drivers, this feature offers details on driving behavior, such as speed acceleration, or phone usage while on the road.

Crash detection and SOS

If the system detects a collision or receives an emergency alert, it can notify everyone in the family circle and even contact emergency service.

But despite these features, you may worry about the platform’s safety and security. Some users believe that Life360 will share their data and worry that their personal and location info could fall into the hands of shady actors or advertisers. Let’s take a closer look at the security measures the app offers.

Life360’s safety measures

Let’s consider this question not from the perspective of family protection, but from the viewpoint of the users’ digital privacy. This is a whole other thing. Life360 offers the following protection measures:

Data breach alerts

Life360 promises to notify users if their stolen information is found on the dark web, where hackers buy and sell stolen data.

Identity theft protection

If you happen to be a victim of identity theft, Life360 specialists promise to provide the steps to restore your identity and complete any necessary paperwork over the phone. They will guide you through submitting a stolen funds reimbursement claim. However, it works only for users on a paid plan.

Looking at these features, it’s clear there’s a lack of strong protection methods to prevent data leaks and further challenges of restoring identity afterward. Let’s dive into this deeper.

App’s security weakness found by The Markup

The Markup team challenged Life360 and it turned out the app failed 6 of 19 tested ASVS standards. Here are some of the problems they found:

No limit on failed log-in attempts

Tests showed no lockout or delay after multiple incorrect passwords, allowing more than 500 attempts in just over 16 minutes on the web and over 100 on the app.

No two-factor authentication (2FA) requirement

The platform doesn’t offer or make users set 2FA, which significantly heightens the risk of account takeovers.

Minimal password complexity requirements

Only a six-character minimum is required. Obvious or commonly breached passwords like “123456” or “password1” are not blocked.

Partial notification of account changes

Life360 does notify users of password reset requests and multiple device log-ins, but not when email addresses, phone numbers, or passwords are changed within the account.

Fails to enforce email validation

The app doesn’t confirm whether a user’s email address exists or belongs to them, making it easier to sign up with fake or incorrect emails.

Having explained this bunch of Life360 privacy and security issues, let’s get to look at the consequences for users.

Safety concerns with Life360

Weak application protection has resulted in the following incidents:

Data breaches

In 2024, Life360 faced a serious incident with its acquired company, Tile. A hacker exploited login credentials that belonged to a former employee and got unauthorized access to users’ personal data. As a result, this Life 360 data breach compromised names, addresses, emails, and phone numbers of Tile customers. Such a Life360 security breach can be even more dangerous than a typical breach because it reveals people’s routines and whereabouts.

Selling location data

The company has been sued for selling location data of 33 million users to third parties. In fact, Life360 previously confirmed doing so with data brokers, then promised to stop sharing precise location data. Still, lawsuits have alleged that the company violated user consent by doing so.

The Life360 app is indeed useful in many life cases. But if you want to use it securely, we strongly recommend adding extra protection for your privacy.

How to keep yourself and your family secure on Life360

Here are some best practices you can take up to reduce Life360 using risks:

Adjust privacy settings

Within the app, go to the profile or settings area and fine-tune who can see your location data. You can also limit how precisely your location is shown to your family circle. To do this, enable the “Bubbles” feature or pause sharing entirely:

Go to the map view, where your location is displayed.
Tap on your location pin.
Look for the “Create a Bubble” button and tap on it.
Adjust the Bubble size by dragging the edges
Set the duration for how long you want the Bubble to stay active.
Tap Confirm to activate.

Review app permissions

On your phone, open “Settings” → “Apps” → “Life360,” then check what permissions it has (like location, microphone, camera, or else). Turn off anything unnecessary to reduce the risk of a life360 security leak.

Set a strong password

Make your password long and unpredictable. The recipe is simple: include uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and special characters. Avoid obvious combos like “Family123!” or your kid’s birthday. If you think, “How on Earth is it possible to remember them?”, then consider using a password manager to store secure credentials for different platforms.

Secure the email linked to the Life360 account

As long as Life360 doesn’t have Two-factor authentication in the app, a good option is to secure the email linked to your Life360 account by enabling 2FA for your email provider (Gmail, Outlook, Yahoo, or others.)

Use a VPN

This step is a huge leap in your digital privacy. A VPN service:

Protects on public Wi-Fi

When you use Life360 on public Wi-Fi or any unprotected network, a VPN for Life360 can protect you from hackers who might intercept your data.

Encrypts connection

This particular feature prevents hackers from collecting your location data, and other sensitive information stored within the app.

Hides your real IP address

With it, snoopers and malicious websites won’t be able to know where you are.

Steer clear of free VPNs

You might think that free VPNs are a good option to deal with these concerns. However, not all VPNs are the same. Usually, free options:

Sell your data to third parties

Many free VPN providers profit by collecting and selling location data or other personal information to shady data brokers and advertisers.

Offer weak encryption protocols

Free VPN solutions often rely on weak encryption protocols like PPTP that may ultimately leave your data exposed.

Pose risks of getting malicious software

Research by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) showed that 6 of the top 10 free VPNs were likely infected with malware, which means severe security issues for your device.

That said, consider using a trustworthy alternative instead — VeePN.

Why VeePN is a top choice for Life360 security

VeePN is a VPN provider with a suite of robust security features:

AES-256 encryption

This advanced protocol scrambles your data so thoroughly that hackers would struggle to decode it. Whether you’re messaging, browsing, or checking your Circle on Life360, your info remains out of sight. This is an effective tool for preventing data tracking.

No Logs policy

VeePN never logs your actions online. There are no records of your online behavior, IP address, or session data stored on our servers. This is critical if you want to sustain Internet privacy.

Kill Switch

If your VPN connection glitches, the Kill Switch shuts down your Internet traffic until the secure tunnel is reestablished. This ensures your precise location data and browsing info don’t leak accidentally.

Anonymous IP

VeePN assigns you an anonymous IP that masks your true geolocation and identity. With a hidden IP, websites and services won’t be able to track each your step.

Use VeePN on 10 devices simultaneously

One subscription covers up to 10 devices, so your entire family can enjoy safe and seamless online connections.

VeePN’s Breach Alert feature

In addition to Life360 breach alert, VeePN also offers your personal Breach Alert monitoring. If it finds your personal details in known leaks, VeePN will instantly notify you. This way, you can update your passwords or other credentials before scammers make use of your data.

Explore VeePN for yourself without risk with a 30-days money-back guarantee.

FAQ

One easy way is using a GPS-spoofer app or adjusting user features in your phone’s settings. If you want extra tricks, check out how to make your phone impossible to track with VeePN.

Try Bubbles mode or pause sharing in the app, and don’t forget basic security measures like tweaking permissions.

It’s missing robust security and cloud operations, ongoing penetration testing, and internal and external audits, falling short on app security standards. Use our tips to prevent a data breach and stay safe while using Life360.

Yes. It boasts safety features many families rely on, though it’s better to add a few security improvements we outlined in the article to make your using Life360 safer.

Life360 can track certain data sharing and collect driving data. Previously, the company was engaged in personal information sales. However, they still can’t rummage through all your files or messages.

Written by Oliver Bennett Oliver Bennett is a dedicated cyber security content writer with a knack for breaking down intricate cyber topics into accessible and actionable insights.