There are several ways to share your location with family and friends, from Apple’s built-in Find My app to location pins in messaging apps like WhatsApp. Hello Polo aims to offer smarter features, including even greater privacy controls than those available in the Find My app.
The app was developed by the team behind leading VPN provider Surfshark and offers seven key features.
Apple’s Find My app, of course, was originally known as Find My Friends and was intended as a way to keep tabs on the locations of your family and friends. It’s still a great way to do this, but it’s not as smart as it could be.
For example, when you choose to share your location, the only options available are for one hour, until the end of the day, or indefinitely. If you need to share your location beyond the end of the day, it’s easy to forget about it later and end up sharing your location indefinitely. There is also no option to decide how precise a location sharing is: you always share the exact location.
Hello Polo is a third-party application designed to offer more control without compromising privacy and, in fact, actively improve it. Typical users include parents and teens who want to stay connected, couples who sign up securely without the pressure to share more than they want, friends who may meet up on nights out or traveling together, caregivers and elderly family members, and co-workers on site or on field visits.
Key Features
Precise time control.
Instead of being limited to a few fixed durations, you can set precise start and end times. Once the end time is reached, tracking stops automatically without you having to take any action.
Control over location accuracy
If you’re trying to meet someone, you can share your exact location exactly like in the Find My app. But if you simply want someone to know your general location, you can choose to share it in a less precise way. The choice is always yours.
Unlimited groups
If you want to share your location periodically with the same people, you don’t need to manually select them each time. You can create groups for family, friends, travel or work. Only you need a subscription to the app; everyone else can see your location without needing to be a member.
Smart notifications
There is no need to manually register on the app to track someone’s location when they have shared it with you. You can receive SOS alerts automatically, as well as be notified when a friend or family member enters or leaves a designated area. You always have full control over what alerts you receive and from whom.
Travel history
You can choose to make your travel history available to group members or not, as desired. Again, you are always in control.
Driving behavior
If there are teenage drivers in the family, the app offers you the ability to monitor speed and driving habits. As always, you have full control over the alerts you choose to receive.
Your location will never be sold
It’s depressingly common these days for app developers to sell location data to data brokers. HeyPolo will never do this. All location data is encrypted in transit and the company will never sell, monetize or otherwise exploit user location data.
7-day free trial
You can try HeyPolo for yourself with a seven-day free trial with no obligation. If you choose to subscribe, an annual plan costs $47.88 per year, which works out to $3.99 per month. If for any reason you are not satisfied with the service, there is a 30-day money back guarantee.
HeyPolo offers unlimited connections on a single plan and is available for both iOS and Android. Use this link for your free seven-day trial.
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