Verizon’s updated family-tracking app adds SOS alerts

Verizon has relaunched its family-tracking app with a Safe Walk SOS feature, allowing users to share their real-time location with emergency contacts and send notifications when they arrive safely. Users can also access a silent SOS button that will alert contacts if they need help.

The new Verizon Family app replaces the Smart Family service that the carrier launched in 2019. It comes with many of the same features, including ways to track the locations of family members, view how much time a child is spending on their phone, and set limits on screen time.

The Verizon Family app also lets parents view their child’s call and text activity (without actually viewing their messages), monitor their teen’s driving activity, and set location alerts. iPhones and Android devices already come with some of these features built-in, including a way to send SOS messages to emergency contacts and various parental controls.

While the Family app is available at no additional cost with a standard postpaid monthly account, you’ll have to pay $14.99 / account per month if you want access to additional features. That includes the ability to set multiple location alerts, parental controls to manage screen time, and roadside assistance.

Customers who have the older Verizon Smart Family service, which started at $4.99 per month, can continue using it (Verizon just won’t let any new users sign up). The reworked Verizon Family service ties in with the company’s other family-tracking products, such as the Gizmo Watch 3 Adventure.