Does Life360 Tell You When Someone is On Their Phone?

ByNelson Morgan Last Updated on: Troubleshooting

When checking your child’s location on Life360, you might be wondering if they’re actually studying or just fiddling with their phone. So, you may be looking for a way to check if you’re using your phone. Will Life360 tell you if they’re using their phone?

Life360 can tell you when someone is on their phone, especially if you are a Gold or Platinum subscriber. But it won’t tell you what they’re doing on the phone.

In this post, I’ll show you how to tell when someone is using their phone on Life360. You’ll also discover other ways to check if your circle member is on their phone.

Sounds good? Then, keep reading.

Does Life360 Tell You When Someone is Using Their Phone?

Life360 can tell you when someone is using their phone. That said, the app will only notify you about a person’s phone usage if the following conditions are met:

  • You have a Gold or Platinum Life360 subscription plan.
  • The person using their phone must be on the move/ in a moving car.

Although Life360 can sense phone usage, it cannot detect what the person is doing on their phone. So, even if you discover that someone is on their phone, you won’t be able to tell whether they are texting or making a phone call.

How Does Life360 Tell that Someone is on Their Phone?

Life360 relies on accelerators to detect phone usage. An accelerator is an electronic sensor in a smartphone that determines the change in speed and direction of an object. Accelerators only work when they detect movement.

If you are walking or driving, you have to pick up your phone to use it. This means that the direction of your phone will change. Your phone’s accelerator registers this change and sends it to Life360. And that’s how Life360 discovers that someone is using their phone.

How to Tell that Someone is Using Their Phone on Life360

When someone in your Life360 circle is using their phone, Life360 will display a phone usage event on their profile. If you see this notification of a circle member’s profile, chances are they are using their phone.

Remember that only Gold and Platinum subscribers on Life360 can tell when a circle member is on their phone.

Other Ways to Tell if Someone is on Their Phone

What if the person you’re tracking is not on the move, but you want to check if they’re using their phone?

That’s still possible, but not with Life360.

Here are other ways to tell when someone is on their phone:

Call Them

The fastest way to check if someone is using their phone is to call them. If the person picks up the phone immediately, they might be on their phone.

It’s important to note that a person’s speed at answering a phone call doesn’t necessarily mean that they were using the phone then. For all you know, they could have set the phone to vibrate to avoid missing a call.

Send Them a Text

You can also check if someone is on their phone by texting them. If the person reads it immediately, your phone may indicate that they’ve read the message. This confirms that they’re using their phone.

Please note that not all phones show when someone has read a message. Luckily, there are other ways to check if someone is on their phone.

Check the Last Seen Time on Their WhatsApp Account

WhatsApp is one of the most popular messaging apps in the world. So, as long as the person you’re tracking owns a smartphone, they’ll most likely be using WhatsApp frequently. For this reason, WhatsApp presents an excellent opportunity for monitoring anyone.

Apart from its messaging feature, WhatsApp also lets you check when someone is on their phone. You can do this by opening WhatsApp and clicking on their contact. The system will direct you to a messaging tab that displays the person’s name at the top of the screen.

If your child is using WhatsApp during that period, the app will display an Online tag below their name. Even if they aren’t on the app, you’ll still see a Last Seen tag telling you when they last used their phone.

If the timestamp on the Last Seen tag was only a few minutes ago, the person might still be using their phone.

Check Their Active Status on Facebook Messenger

Another messaging app that lets you monitor a person’s phone usage is Facebook Messenger.

Facebook Messenger has an active status feature that shows when someone last used the app. If the person you’re tracking doesn’t use Facebook, this method won’t work.

Here’s how to use Facebook to check if someone is on their phone:

  • Open Facebook.
  • Search for the person’s profile on the search bar.
  • When their profile appears in the search results, click on it.
  • Then, tap the Message button at the center of the screen.
  • This will take you to Facebook Messenger.
  • If the person was recently active, the system will display the last usage time at the top of the screen.

If your FB Messenger app doesn’t display when the user was active, it doesn’t mean that they aren’t using their phone. Rather, it could just indicate that they didn’t use Facebook.

Look for the Green Dot on Their IG Profile Picture

Today, most people spend half the time on their phones scrolling through social media apps. That’s why Instagram, another social media platform, makes it to this list.

When someone is online on Instagram, the network places a green dot beside their profile picture. This informs you that they’re using their phone. If you don’t see this green dot in their profile picture, they are not active on Instagram.

Check Their TikTok Profile

If the person you’re tracking is active on TikTok, they might have shared a video recently. Fortunately, TikTok states the time when a video was posted.

Check the person’s TikTok account for the latest video. If you find a video that was posted only a few minutes ago, they’re probably using their phone.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can You See if Someone is Active on Life360?

There is no way to see if someone is checking your location on Life360. The app only allows you to check someone’s location on a private map. If you like, you can also set up alerts to notify you when someone enters or leaves a certain area.

What Does Life360 Say When Your Phone is Off?

If your phone goes off, Life360 won’t show anything on your profile. But there is a way for your circle members to tell when your phone is off. Life360 displays your phone’s battery life on your profile. This informs other people in your Circle that your phone is about to go off.

Does the Green Dot on Life360 Mean the Person is on Their Phone?

The green dot on Life360 doesn’t mean the person is on their phone. Rather, it indicates that they have activated the Driver Detection feature on the app.

Related: Does Life360 Tell You When Someone Checks Your Location?

Wrapping Up

Once Life360 tells you that someone is on their phone, proceed to WhatsApp or other social media apps to discover what they’re doing on their phone. You can also ask someone around them to check what they’re doing.