FamSinyalFeature · Location
See where they are — and how fresh that answer is.
FamSinyal shows the last location reported by your child's device, together with when it was captured and roughly how accurate it is.
Short answer: FamSinyal shows the last location your child's device reported, not a continuous live feed. Every point carries the time it was captured and an approximate accuracy, so you can tell a fresh answer from an old one. If the phone is offline or its battery has run out, the last known point stays on the map and is clearly labelled as old.
What the map shows
A single marker for your child's device, the time the location was reported, and a rough accuracy radius. Nothing on this screen is presented as “live”.
That distinction matters more than it sounds. The most common complaint about family locator apps is an old point that looks current — a parent believes their child is still at school when the phone stopped reporting an hour ago. FamSinyal shows the age of the answer next to the answer itself.
Why accuracy varies
- Indoors and underground, GPS weakens and the phone falls back to Wi-Fi and mobile networks — the radius grows.
- Battery saver modes on Android and iOS reduce how often the device reports.
- No connection means a location can be captured but not delivered until the phone is back online.
Where the limits are
FamSinyal cannot report a location from a phone that is switched off, out of battery, or has had its location permission revoked. In those cases you see the last known point and the time it arrived — which is itself useful information, because it tells you when contact was lost.
The app also cannot locate a person by phone number, and it will not follow a device that has not been paired through the open setup process.
Why is the location old?
Because the device has not reported a new one. The usual causes are a phone that is offline, a flat battery, a battery-saver mode that suspends background activity, or a location permission that has been turned off. The support article on location not updating walks through each cause in order.
How accurate is the location?
Accuracy depends on the environment and typically ranges from a few metres outdoors with a clear sky to a few hundred metres indoors or underground. FamSinyal always shows the approximate accuracy alongside the point rather than implying a precision it does not have.
Location works best when permissions are right
After setup, check that location permission is set to “always” on the child's phone — that single setting explains most missing updates.
