Hey there! It‘s your resident fashionista and tech enthusiast. Today, I want to dish about my experience with Life360, the wildly popular family safety app. As a mom of two teens, I‘m always on the lookout for ways to keep my family connected and safe without cramping anyone‘s style. So when I heard about Life360‘s Gold membership and its tons of features, I had to give it a spin.
In this juicy Life360 review, I‘ll give you the full scoop on everything the Gold plan has to offer, how it compares to other options, and my unfiltered opinion on whether it‘s worth your hard-earned cash. Buckle up, because we‘re about to dive deep!
What Exactly Is Life360 Gold?
Before we get into the nitty-gritty, let‘s make sure we‘re all on the same page about what Life360 is. In a nutshell, it‘s an app that lets you share your real-time location with a private group of family and friends (your "Circle"). It also has oodles of features designed to keep everyone safer, like alerting you if someone‘s been in a car crash or letting you know when the kiddos make it to school.
Life360 has over 33 million users across 140 countries, so it‘s def not some flash-in-the-pan app. And the Gold membership is their mid-tier paid plan that unlocks access to premium features like:
- 30 days of location history
- Unlimited place alerts
- $25,000 in ID theft protection
- 24/7 access to roadside assistance
… and a bunch more that I‘ll get into later. Basically, it‘s like leveling up your family safety game.
My Experience with Life360 Gold
Full disclosure: I‘m a bit of a helicopter mom. I like to know where my kids are and that they‘re safe, but I also don‘t want to be overbearing. So I was equal parts excited and hesitant to try Life360 Gold.
The first thing that struck me was how easy it was to set up. I just downloaded the app, made an account, and sent invites to my two teens and my husband. They all accepted (some more begrudgingly than others), and boom – I could see everyone‘s location on a map in real-time. It felt a little weird at first, but also comforting to know I could check in anytime.
Over the next few weeks, I started exploring more of the Gold features. Some highlights:
🚗 Driver Reports: This was eye-opening. Life360 showed me a weekly recap of my kids‘ driving habits, like if they used their phone behind the wheel or braked too hard. It sparked some convos about safety for sure.
🚨 Crash Detection: Luckily, we didn‘t have to use this. But knowing the app would immediately alert me and emergency responders if someone was in a crash gave me massive peace of mind.
🔍 30 Days of Location History: Not going to lie, I geeked out over this data. It was fascinating (and a little scary) to see every place my family had been for the last month.
⛑️ 24/7 Roadside Assistance: We actually did use this! When my daughter got a flat tire, Life360 dispatched a tow truck to her location. The 5 free miles of towing that comes with the Gold plan saved the day.
After a month of using Life360 Gold, my opinion is that it‘s a pretty sweet deal for families who want to stay super connected and gain an extra safety net. The features genuinely made me feel more at ease as a parent. And I appreciated that the app balanced safety with privacy, like letting my teens turn on "Bubbles" to show their location more vaguely if they wanted.
Life360 Gold Features: A Closer Look
Alright, time to get into the deets of what you actually get with Life360 Gold. I‘ll break it down by category:
🌎 Location Tracking
The bread and butter of Life360. You can view your Circle members‘ locations in real-time on a private map, set specific Place alerts, and even get notified if someone‘s phone battery is running low. Gold kicks it up a notch with:
- 30 days of location history (vs. 2 days on the free plan)
- Unlimited Place alerts (vs. 2 on the free plan)
- Expanded location data like how long someone was at each place
🚗 Driving Safety
If you have teens behind the wheel, this is clutch. Life360 Gold includes:
- Weekly Driver Reports with details on trips, phone usage, and harsh braking/acceleration
- Crash Detection that automatically notifies you and emergency contacts if a Circle member is in an accident
- 24/7 Roadside Assistance with up to 5 miles of free towing
- Crash Report with info about the vehicle‘s speed, location, and impact
I mean, just look at these stats: Life360 detects a car crash every 8 seconds and helps dispatch emergency services every 2 minutes. That‘s some serious safety power.
🔐 Digital Protection
It‘s not just physical safety Life360 looks out for. The Gold plan also helps secure your fam‘s digital lives with:
- $25,000 in ID Theft Protection in case your personal info gets stolen
- Data Breach Alerts if your info is found on the dark web
- Social Media Monitoring to help protect your kids‘ accounts
In 2021, Life360 alerted users to over 1.3 million data breaches and helped protect over $200,000 in losses from ID theft. So yeah, this stuff matters.
🌎 Travel Support
Planning a family vacay? Life360 Gold has your back with:
- SOS Help Alert to quickly send your location and request emergency assistance
- Medical Assistance to connect you with local doctors or arrange emergency transportation
- Travel Tips like embassy contact info, common scams to avoid, and required vaccinations
🤝 24/7 Member Support
If you ever have an issue with the app or your account, Gold members get priority access to Life360‘s US-based support team via phone, email, or in-app chat.
Life360 Gold vs. Other Plans
Now, you might be wondering how Life360 Gold stacks up to the other plans. Here‘s a quick breakdown:
| Plan | Location History | Place Alerts | Crash Detection | Roadside Assistance | ID Theft Protection | Monthly Price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Free | 2 days | 2 | ✔️ | ❌ | ❌ | $0 |
| Silver | 7 days | 5 | ✔️ | ❌ | ❌ | $4.99 |
| Gold | 30 days | Unlimited | ✔️ | ✔️ (5 miles towing) | $25,000 | $9.99 |
| Platinum | 30 days | Unlimited | ✔️ | ✔️ (50 miles towing) | $1,000,000 | $19.99 |
As you can see, Gold is a significant upgrade from the free and Silver plans, especially in terms of Place alerts, roadside assistance, and ID theft protection. But it‘s half the price of Platinum, which could be overkill unless you want the max insurance coverage.
For most families, I think Gold hits the sweet spot of robust features at a reasonable monthly price. And don‘t forget, you can try Gold free for 7 days to see if it fits your fam‘s needs.
How Does Life360 Compare to Competitors?
Life360 isn‘t the only family safety app on the block. A few notable alternatives include:
- GeoZilla: Offers location sharing, place alerts, and an SOS button. But no driving safety features or extra perks like Life360.
- FamiSafe: Lets you track locations and monitor social media/app usage. More of a parental control app than a full family safety suite like Life360.
- Mama Bear: Has basic location tracking and check-ins. Decent free option but lacks Life360‘s premium features.
All in all, I haven‘t found another app that matches Life360‘s range of features, especially at the Gold tier. It really does feel like an all-in-one family safety solution.
Is Life360 Gold Right for Your Family?
Real talk: Life360 Gold isn‘t going to be a must-have for everyone. You might love it if:
✔️ You have teens who are driving or out and about a lot
✔️ You want to keep closer digital tabs on your kids without feeling too invasive
✔️ Your family does a lot of traveling or has members with medical needs
✔️ You like having tons of data and peace of mind about your family‘s whereabouts and safety
On the flip side, you could probably skip it if:
❌ You have little kids who are always with you anyway
❌ Your family is super old-school and not into "being tracked"
❌ You have zero wiggle room in your monthly budget
❌ You‘re not comfortable with some privacy tradeoffs (more on that next)
What About Privacy with Life360?
I‘d be remiss not to touch on the privacy question. Life360 does collect a decent chunk of sensitive info, like your family‘s locations, driving data, and device info. They use this both to provide the core services and for things like research and targeted ads (which you can opt out of).
Straight up, using an app like Life360 requires being comfortable with some loss of privacy in exchange for the safety benefits. The company is transparent that they may share "de-identified" location data with partners for things like urban planning.
But – and this is key – Life360 does not sell your personal info to data brokers or marketers. And they use bank-grade security and encryption to protect your data.
You can also adjust a bunch of privacy settings in the app, like choosing which locations are logged, turning off Location History for specific Users, and setting your family‘s map to private. So you do get solid control.
At the end of the day, I‘m okay with the privacy tradeoff for my family. But I totally respect that it‘s a personal choice every parent has to make for themselves.
Life360 Gold: Yea or Nay?
Alright, I think I‘ve covered basically everything and the kitchen sink about Life360 Gold. For me, paying $9.99 a month is 100% worth it for the extra comfort and security it provides my family. I love being able to see that my kids made it to school okay, keep tabs on their driving, and know we‘d be covered in a emergency situation. The ID theft protection and travel assistance are like bonus cherries on top.
I do know some families who are perfectly content with the free version of Life360, and I think that‘s great too – the core location sharing is still super handy. But if you‘re like me and want the full safety monty, I highly recommend at least trying out Gold for a month. You might just find it‘s a investment in your peace of mind.
My Life360 Tips for Parents
To wrap this up, here are my rapid-fire tips for getting the most out of Life360 Gold:
- Have an open, judgment-free convo with your kids about using the app and agree on some ground rules together
- Use the Place alerts to set boundaries, not to helicopter parent
- Review the weekly Driver Report cards with your teen and focus on positive improvements, not just mistakes
- Don‘t forget to turn on the Crash Detection for yourself too, not just the kiddos
- Make sure everyone knows how to activate the SOS Help Alert, even if you never need it
- Customize your privacy settings thoughtfully and review them every few months
- Take advantage of the ID theft monitoring and don‘t ignore the data breach alerts – change those passwords ASAP!
And that‘s a wrap! I hope this novel of a Life360 review has given you a better sense of what the Gold membership has to offer. Of course, every family‘s needs and comfort levels are different. But if you‘re looking for a one-stop way to feel more connected and protected, I think Life360 Gold is pretty dang golden.
Stay safe out there!
Xoxo,
Your Resident Fashionista/Safety App Guinea Pig 😘
