Arrival zones: knowing they've reached school or home without watching the map
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Often, when we think about a family member's location, we don't really want to know where they are every moment. We want to know one thing: have they arrived? At school, at home, at the gym, at the grandparents'. Checking the map every five minutes is stressful for the watcher and intrusive for the watched. A zone with an arrival alert answers the real question, and nothing more.
What zones are
A zone — technically a *geofence* — is an area around a place: school, home, the office, the grandparents' house. When a family member who shares their location enters or leaves that area, a notification arrives: "Sara has arrived at school", "Mark has left work".
How they work in KidBox
In KidBox's Location section:
- create a place: school, home, gym, grandparents
- adjust the radius of the area, based on the size of the place and the precision you need
- choose the members it applies to: the "school" zone for the children, the "office" zone for a parent
- get an alert on arrival and departure
Zones only work for people who share their location, and need the phone to allow the app location access in the background too. Anyone can stop sharing at any time, and others are told.
The most useful zones
- School: for children who go on their own, on foot, by bike or by public transport
- Home: coming back from school, practice, an evening out
- Grandparents or babysitter: the child has arrived after a drop-off
- Gym or pitch: especially when someone else drives them
- Office: "has left work", handy for planning dinner and pick-ups
The right radius
Too small a radius may not trigger the alert, because phone location isn't accurate to the metre, especially between buildings. Too large and it alerts while the person is still a few streets away. Start with a medium radius — a couple of hundred metres — and adjust after a few days of trying.
Use them sparingly
Zones are a light tool, but still a location tool. A few principles:
- few zones, the ones that answer a real question
- agreed with the people involved, especially teenagers and your partner
- not a substitute for trust: if an alert doesn't arrive, before worrying remember a flat battery, a phone switched off or location turned off are far more likely than a problem
- removed when no longer needed
More broadly, see family location without surveillance.
Zones and the calendar
Zones work well with the calendar: if the calendar says "Luke swimming, pick-up 6:15", the alert "Luke has left the pool" tells whoever's collecting that it's time. No messages, no calls.
In short
A zone answers the question that really matters — have they arrived? — without following a dot on the map. In KidBox you create a place, set the radius, choose members and get arrival and departure alerts for those sharing their location. Few zones, agreed, with the right radius, and never a substitute for trust.
The tools this article talks about
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