Life360 will stop selling its users’ precise location data to third-party companies

After being called out on its bullshit, Life360 is done selling its customers’ precise location data to seedy data brokers. Well, sort of. This is all in thanks to some good ole’ fashion journalism from the folks at The Markup.

But let’s not pat the family safety app on the back just yet. They’re not entirely putting a stop to this shady practice. Instead, they will sell aggregate data that is harder to track back to its users.

They’re also toning down the number of brokers they’re dealing with and focusing on working with one partner, instead.

“We’re essentially replacing a very large number of partners with a single partner with the exception of Arity, which is going to continue on the driver side,” CEO Chris Hulls said on a recent earnings call. 

READ MORE: Remote learning apps are selling your kids’ data at an alarming rate

In December of 2021, The Markup reported that the company was selling precise location data to about a dozen data brokers. Those data brokers would then sell that data to the highest bidder. At one point, former employees and some of the data brokers called Life360 “one of the largest sources of data for the industry.”

In a statement provided to The Markup, Oregon’s state senator, Ron Wyden, noted:

“Companies should not be selling individual consumers’ raw location data. It is too easy to abuse, and even if firms are careful about not selling it to the government, the firms they sell it to can then resell it without their knowledge,” Wyden wrote in a statement. “I’m glad that Life360 has stopped selling location records to data brokers, but it should not have taken public shaming by journalists. Congress needs to finally pass tough consumer privacy legislation.”

As you can see, Life360 is still selling customer data to third parties, it’s just more limited now. This should hopefully help keep your family just a bit more secure.

If that’s not enough for you, however, you can thankfully opt-out of this directly through the app.

Here’s how to do it:

While this supposedly stops Life360 from selling your precise location data, the question remains – Should you still trust them with your family’s safety? There’s a lot to think about here.

Have any thoughts on this? Let us know down below in the comments or carry the discussion over to our Twitter or Facebook.

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Kevin Raposo

Kevin is KnowTechie's founder and executive editor. With over 15 years of blogging experience in the tech industry, Kevin has transformed what was once a passion project into a full-blown tech news publication. Shoot him an email at kevin@knowtechie.com or find him on Mastodon or Post.