FamBeacon is how your people know everyone's okay: one-tap check-ins, calm arrival alerts, a watched walk home and an SOS that reaches everyone. It runs in your own iCloud. No account, no ads, and no tracking company in the middle.
Family, roommates, a carpool, a team: one group per set of people, kept apart from each other.
Share one link or a QR code. Anyone with an iPhone joins free. You can approve each new member and cap the group size.
Home, school, work, Grandma's. Choose for each place whether you hear about arrivals, departures, both or neither.
Pulse shows "Everyone looks good" or "Worth a look". Check in with one tap when something changes. No map to stare at all day.
Everything below that keeps someone safe is free. FamBeacon+ adds scale and smart extras, never the safety itself.
"I'm safe", "Arrived", "Heading home", "Running late", or buttons you write yourself. Add a photo note, your mood, a reaction or a quick "thinking of you". Ask someone "Can you check in?" and get a Yes or No answer right on Pulse.
FreeWho's home, who's at work, who's at practice and since when. Local time, distance and a flag when someone is abroad. One notice at a time, so quiet really means fine. And a little warmth: confetti when a walk ends safely, an evening chime when the last person gets home, milestones to share, five color themes.
FreeSee where your people are the moment you wonder. Touch and hold for an ETA, follow a walk live, and tap a park or café to Explore Nearby with a street-level preview.
FreeA gentle heads-up when your child reaches school, a parent gets home, or anyone arrives at or leaves a saved place. Real notifications, even with the app closed, and they break through Focus when they matter.
Free · several at once with PlusHeading home late? Start a watched walk. A countdown sits on your Lock Screen, your watchers can follow live, and if you're not there by your time they're gently alerted. Sharing ends the moment you arrive. One person outside the app, Android included, can get a text when you make it.
Free · 3 a week, unlimited with PlusSay when you'll be back and where you're going. If you're not back within 30 minutes of that time, your group hears about it, with whoever is on duty alerted first. Expecting no signal? Say so, and you show as off-grid, not missing.
FreeOne tap alerts every group you're in with your live location, from the home screen, the Map, your widgets, Siri or your Apple Watch. Call emergency services and text your emergency contacts a map link from the same screen. Your people can answer "On my way" and see you full-screen until you say all clear.
Always free"No news is good news" only works if you can trust the quiet. Safety Signal shows whether each person's phone is still checking in: Connected, Limited or Signal lost. It runs entirely on your device and adds no tracking.
FreeExpect someone at school on weekdays and get an "all done?" nudge if they're not there. Plan ahead shows who's expected where each day. Add a day off, early release or late start, or link a school or team calendar and the days fill themselves in. Scan a printed schedule with the camera on iPhones with Apple Intelligence.
Free · 2 places, unlimited with PlusFamily, Friends, Team, School, or a type you name yourself like Carpool or Book club, each with a starter kit of check-in buttons and roles. Pop-up groups for a trip end on their own. Clubs can share only during meetups. Owners approve new members and set a size limit.
Free · several groups with PlusFor friends. Night Out shares until sunrise and wraps itself up. Find each other turns on precise location for a concert, a festival or a crowded fair, just for the session. Buddy pairing nudges you if you and your buddy drift apart.
Free · buddy pairing with PlusA gentle daily "I'm okay" from Mom, without tracking her. Set a routine like "check in by 10 PM"; the deadline rings as an alarm, and the people who look after her hear if it's missed. Request a check-in any time, with a heads-up if it's the middle of their night.
One routine free · Elder Mode with PlusCrash detection and speed alerts for family groups, tuned to avoid false alarms. Where did I park saves your spot with one tap or automatically when you stop driving, then walks you back. Parking stays on your phone and is never shared.
FreeCheck in, see your people and send SOS from your wrist, with a complication for the watch face. Home Screen and Lock Screen widgets show everyone's status with one-tap check-in and SOS. "Hey Siri, ask FamBeacon where Maya is" just works, and FamBeacon shows up in Shortcuts.
FreeAsk "Is everyone home?" and get a plain answer. Get a written note about how everyone's week went, and a calm nudge if someone is quieter than usual. The model runs on your iPhone; nothing about your family leaves it.
FamBeacon+ · supported iPhones
FamBeacon has no backend. Locations, check-ins and places live in your own private iCloud and reach your group through Apple's iCloud sharing. We can't see them, so we can't sell them.
That's the App Store privacy label, and it's literal. No account to sign up for, no ads, no analytics, no third-party SDKs. This website doesn't track you either.
Exact location, place name only, or private, per place and per time of day. Privacy Zones hide sensitive places from the map entirely. Pause sharing whenever you like.
See who looked at your location and when. 24 hours free, 30 days with Plus.
Your people see where you are now, not a trail of where you've been. Second-by-second following turns on only when you choose it: a walk home, an SOS, a Find each other session. It turns itself off after.
Your own history is kept 30 days (a year with Plus). Walk routes last 7 days. Linked calendars are fetched by your phone directly; the link never leaves it.
Family groups ask a guardian to add a child or teen. Friend groups are for people old enough to consent for themselves. Details are in the privacy policy.
Free is a complete experience for a small household. FamBeacon+ lifts the limits and adds the smart extras, and one subscription covers everyone in your groups.
| What you get | Free | FamBeacon+ |
|---|---|---|
| SOS, check-ins, the live map, Tell Me When, Safety Signal, Back by, Night Out, Find each other, crash and speed alerts, Apple Watch and widgets | Included | Included |
| People who join with their own iPhone | Unlimited | Unlimited |
| Saved places | 2 | Unlimited |
| Tell Me When alerts running at once | 1 | Several |
| Walk With Me | 3 a week | Unlimited |
| Groups | 1 | Several |
| Your own location history | 30 days | A year |
| Privacy Receipts | 24 hours | 30 days |
| Daily check-in routines | 1 | One per person, morning and evening |
| Linked school or team calendars | 1 | More |
| Members without their own phone | 3 | More |
| Elder Mode | · | Included |
| Buddy pairing on a Night Out | · | Included |
| Gentle nudges, Ask FamBeacon and your written week (Apple Intelligence, on the subscriber's iPhone) | · | Included |
| Plus for your whole group | · | One subscription lifts the limits for everyone in your groups |
An auto-renewing annual subscription billed to your Apple Account. It renews unless cancelled at least 24 hours before the end of the period; manage or cancel any time in iOS Settings. Prices vary by region. Invited by a friend? Their Tell a Friend link includes a free month of Plus.
The Watch app checks in, shows your people and sends SOS without reaching for your phone. A complication keeps everyone's status on the watch face.
No. It answers "Is everyone okay?" and gets out of the way. Your people see where you are now and the check-ins you send, not a trail of where you've been; your own history is yours alone. You choose per place whether others see an exact pin, just the place name, or nothing, and you can pause sharing any time. Live following happens only when you start a walk, an SOS or a Find each other session.
Tap their link on your iPhone. If FamBeacon is installed, the invite opens straight in the app. If not, get the app from the App Store, come back to the message and tap the link again, then pick your name. You can also scan their QR code from the app under "I have an invite".
No. SOS, check-ins, the live map, place alerts, Walk With Me, Back by, Safety Signal and the Apple Watch app are free for everyone, and anyone with an iPhone joins free. FamBeacon+ lifts limits like the number of saved places and adds Elder Mode and the Apple Intelligence extras.
FamBeacon is for iPhone and Apple Watch. Two things reach outside: after a walk, one person without the app, Android included, can get a text that you arrived, and an SOS can text your emergency contacts a map link.
Place alerts use Apple's geofencing and significant-change monitoring rather than constant GPS. Precise, frequent updates run only during a walk, an SOS or a Find each other session, and stop on their own.
An iPhone on iOS 26 or later, signed in to iCloud. Apple Watch features need watchOS 26. Apple Intelligence features need a supported iPhone with Apple Intelligence turned on in a supported language.
English, German, Spanish, French, Japanese, Portuguese (Brazil) and Simplified Chinese.
Every feature has a help page inside the app under Settings. For anything else, write to feedback@mobileinnov.com.
Free on the App Store. Set up in two minutes, invite your people with one link.
