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Comment by nrs26 | Hacker News Reader

This is very cool. I've been considering doing something similar for my family. Is there a hardware solution (like an open-source GPS-enabled Tile) that you found that could track people's location without installing Life360? I did some cursory research a few months back and couldn't find anything.

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As mentioned in other comments here and I discuss in my build log. There's Apple's Find My Phone service, but this is iOS only. The authentication API for Find My Phone changed while I was working on the project and Life360 has really good support in Home Assistant.

There's OwnTracks (https://owntracks.org/) and Google location services. I didn't try those.

I opted for Life360 because it's supported on iPhone and Android and I just wanted the location data to "just work." I had enough technical hurdles, I didn't want to add debugging why someone's phone stopped sending location updates.

Owntracks works with ios and android, is open source, and you can have it directly connect to a server of your choosing and nothing else. owntracks + mqtt bridge + homeassistant is what i use and it works great(I haven't touched it since I set it up)

Owntracks is my backup plan. Integration with Home Assistant is a must.

There's a little backstory to choosing Life360. The clock was a surprise for my wife and I needed to get her to willingly install and run a tracking app on her phone. A "Family Safety" app was an easier sell than a more abstract home automation integration. :)

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