BBC Radio 2’s Sara Cox has revealed she tracks her children using Apple’s Find My Friends feature when they’re apart.
The 50-year-old broadcaster shares three teenage children, Renee, Lola and Isaac with her husband Ben Cyzer and has a daughter with her ex-husband, DJ Jon Carter, who she separated from in 2006.
Speaking to Jessie and Lennie Ware on their Table Manners podcast, Cox said: “I just do the usual Apple one. You can see where the kids are.”
Apple released Find My Friends, which allows users to share their location with specific people and locate those who share their location with them using GPS and Wi-Fi in 2011.
The app is most commonly used as a safety precaution and in 2017 aided a man to be rescued after he became stuck on a mountain.
However, Cox admitted she was glad her own mother wasn’t able to track her when she was young. “My mum would have been like ‘Why is Sara on her way to Blackpool,” the presenter, who grew up in Bolton, said.
“I went to Blackpool when I really wasn’t supposed to be,” she said. “I’d get a lift with some random lads in their XR2s [Ford Fiesta cars].”
Some parents take tracking their children a step further, with Mike and Zara Tindall keeping tabs using Apple’s £35 AirTag tracking device.
In 2021, Apple launched AirTags to help iPhone users track the exact location of a lost item, such as luggage and keys. The small, circular device can be tracked from Apple’s Find My app.
The Independent’s Charlotte Cripps weighed in on the child-tracking debate, saying she wanted to AirTag her children until they were 18.
“Is it teaching children to feel unsafe in the world and infringing on their privacy? Not in my case.
“My children feel protected knowing I’m keeping a close eye on them, and they are not at an age where they can go out without adult supervision...The truth is, I’d prefer to be safe than sorry,” she wrote.
“I know I can’t control what happens to my children when I’m not there– but at least there’s great comfort in knowing exactly where they are.”
I’m a microbiologist. Here’s what I never eat – and why I avoid picnics
10 fun ways to keep kids active and healthy this summer
Chinese Starbucks competitor opens first stores in the US
I’m a sleep expert. Here’s how nightmares are taking years off your life
Judy Murray says ‘feeling trapped’ as a mother led to son Andy’s tennis career
