It is both an exciting yet frightening experience for parents the moment their teenager obtains a driver’s license. It is a mark of their growth towards independence. Yet, parents cannot help but feel a sense of worry whenever their child goes behind the wheel. The best teen driving apps are here to help you in tracking teenage drivers.
Statistically, the risk for accidents among teenage drivers is higher than that of adult drivers. As a parent, you need to make sure that your teen drivers understand the risks involved and the ways to protect themselves.
To give you peace of mind, parents can now take advantage of smartphone apps that will enable you to monitor your child’s driving. These are some of the best and most recommended apps for teen drivers and for their parents’ peace of mind.
Safe Driver
Safe Driver is one of the best apps for parents with teenage drivers. This app is exclusively available via iTunes and for iOS users. The app works by monitoring the location and the driving speed of your son or daughter. You can also set speed limits. Whenever this speed limit is exceeded, an alert will be sent to your phone or the phone of any designated contact, such as your spouse. If the highest speed limit in your town is 45 mph, you might want to know if your teen is pushing 60 mph.
The only downside to this app is that it is only effective when the person at the wheel cooperates. For instance, your child must open the app on their phone while driving. If the app is not turned on, it won’t be able to provide you with data and alerts — it does not work in the background. You won’t be able to get notifications on their driving speed and location.
When using the Safe Driver app to enhance your teenager’s safety on the road, it is important to talk to them about its function. Make it known to them that the purpose of the app is not to invade their privacy. Instead, it is designed with their safety in mind and to help train them about proper driving behavior.
The verdict on this is as follows:
Pros:
- It is easy to use.
- It provides real-time data on your teen driver’s location and driving speed.
- It provides real-time notifications when the driving speed limit is exceeded.
Cons:
- The app should be open when driving is in progress to report the data that you need to monitor your teen driver’s activity.
DriveSafe.ly
Texting, or other forms of distractions, while driving has led to many fatal consequences. If you are scared of your teenager’s tendencies to be on the phone while driving, this is a great app for them to use.
This revolutionary smartphone app is compatible with any smartphone device. Whenever a text message comes in, it will read the text message out loud. It eliminates the need for the driver to take their hands off the wheel in order to scroll through text messages on their phone. The user can even respond to the message via voice. There is no need for them to type the reply.
Aside from this important safety feature, there are a host of other functionalities available with the DriveSafe.ly app. It is even compatible with any vehicle’s Bluetooth device.
Pros:
- It helps to reduce the risks of texting while driving.
- It is completely hands-free to ensure the safety of your teen driver.
Cons:
- There are no major downsides to the use of this app.
Textecution
This is another handy app for your teen drivers also related to texting while driving. Textecution is a user-friendly app that comes with a host of clever features. This particular app locks a driver’s phone while driving. This will prevent the user from gaining access to any of the SMS functions of the phone.
The good thing about Textecution is that parents can be alerted via the app’s website. For instance, you will be sent an alert in the event that the driver has requested permission to access their phone’s messaging feature. This feature can only be activated if the driver is safely parked or in the event of an accident.
If ever your child removes the application from their phone, parents can be notified too. Since this app is supported by major mobile network providers, anyone can use it.
Pros:
- It is easy to install and use.
- It removes any temptation to use the phone to text while driving.
- It sends real-time notifications to parents so they are informed of their teenage child’s behavior while driving.
Cons:
- The app has no major downsides, except for the fact that drivers must request permission in the event of road accidents.
Life 360
Life 360 is defined as a family networking app. The app was initially released in 2008 with the purpose of connecting family members together. Through the app, you will be able to share your location with one another, no matter where you are.
For parents, this app gives them peace of mind since they can track down the location of their child. It helps you stay connected even as you go about with your day-to-day activities. For teenage drivers, Life 360 is handy because it provides real-time data to parents about location and driving speed.
Parents can, therefore, feel safe and secure knowing that their child has reached their intended destination. The tracking function via Life 360 can be turned off. But it will send notifications to the members within the app that your child has disabled the feature.
Pros:
- It provides parents with complete details of their child’s driving history. You will know your child’s driving behavior if they accelerated too quickly, slammed the brakes, or exceeded their driving speed limit.
- It has many other features available for family members to stay connected.
Cons:
- The tracking function can be turned off (though you will be notified when that happens).
SnapSecure
SnapSecure is a smartphone app that offers two major functions that will appeal to parents of teen drivers. The first function is the Driver Safety Function. It sends texts or email notifications to parents of a teenage driver when the latter is calling, texting, or browsing the internet while at the wheel.
Aside from that, there is the Family Device Locate function, which provides a minute-by-minute geographic location report. This is one of the best apps for tracking teenage drivers who have a longer drive to school.
Pros:
- It reduces the risk of distracted driving habits for your teens.
- It provides detailed information about the driver’s location in real-time.
Cons:
- Your child might feel that the minute-by-minute location update is invasive. But you need to make them understand the value of these features in terms of safety.
Which of these teen driving apps for parents have you used before? Which ones do you think would be most helpful to you? Which app was best for tracking your teenage drivers?
If you want to keep an eye on your kids. check out our article on the best kid tracker apps.
