With so many reasons to be concerned about technology, it can feel like the various apps and social networks we all use do more harm than good. But in this case, one iPhone app did a whole lot of good. A mom in North Carolina is crediting Find My Friends with saving her daughter’s life.
When Catrina Alexander’s 17-year-old daughter missed curfew and wasn’t responding to calls or texts, she got worried. Then she remembered that her daughter, Macy Smith, had shared her location last year via mobile tracking and social network app Find My Friends. By checking on her phone, she could see Smith was nearby.
The tracking app showed that Smith was at the bottom of a 25-foot embankment. While driving, her car had hydroplaned and rolled, leaving her stranded and in danger. She had actually be trapped there for seven hours, unable to get out of the car or reach her phone to call for help. After her mom located her via the app, her stepdad stayed with her by the car until paramedics were able to remove her and take her to a hospital.
“I hadn’t cried the whole time that I was under my car at all but when my stepdad got down to the car and held my hand through the sunroof, I couldn’t hold it in anymore,” she told WSLS 10.
Smith sustained injuries, including nerve damage and a fractured neck, but she knows she is lucky to be alive, especially because her phone’s GPS had taken her a different way home than she normally would have taken. Not only did Find My Friends help speed up the search process, but it also took them to a place that her parents might never have thought to check.
And while the family credits Find My Friends with saving Smith’s life, the experience has actually lead them to switch loyalties to another service. They have all downloaded the Life360 app, which is more specifically designed with family safety in mind.
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