Parents can now ‘ping’ their child’s location

It’s 11:00 and there’s no news of Steve and you are worried about him. Sounds familiar? Welcome to the world of parents who go through hell worrying about where their kids are. Do not despair for help is on its way. Hoping to cash in on the digital wave, mTrack Services have devised a system called KidsOK. By using this novel service, parents can keep track of their kids 24 hours a day.

The company claims that they can trace the location of any mobile phone within a minute. Anxious parents should send a text message to 60777 and add their kids’ name at the end of the message, for example, ‘ping Steve.’ Within minutes parents will be able to receive a text message as well as a mini-map of the location where the mobile phone is currently located. The location can be pinpointed to within 500 meters in urban areas and up to five kilometers in rural areas.

KidsOK CEO and co-founder Richard Jelbert feels that this particular service would be a boon to parents who can trace their child’s’ location without disturbing him/her, “If the child doesn’t pick up your call this gives you enough information to know if they are at a friend’s house, in the school area or perhaps near home,” Jelbert said. This service has received the thumbs-up from children’s charity Kidscape.

To avail the service, which can work only through the parent and child’s mobile phones, it is mandatory that both the parent as well as the child agree to the tracking. All numbers will be encrypted within KidsOK server to ensure maximum privacy to the users. The next step is to verify that the mobile phones belong to the registered users and after this is accomplished, parents can keep track of their child’s location all through the day without him/her being aware of it. “The KidsOK service is based on encouraging trust and co-operation between parent and child, striking a balance between giving kids their freedom and knowing where they are,” Jelbert concluded.

The KidsOK mobile location pack is priced at £39.95 and is available across the UK from this week onwards. The pack will also be sold at select outlets such as Bhs, Boots and Millets stores. Mobile operators such as Orange, Vodafone, T-mobile and O2 have already enabled the service on their phones.