Getting Started with Our Family Safety App

Like a seatbelt or a life jacket, the OffenderWatch® Family Safety App is another tool that's essential to your children's everyday safety. Monitor their whereabouts and communications with up-the-minute notifications, helpful parent resources, and unparalleled access to the most comprehensive sex offender registry database available.

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How Does the Free Family Safety App Work?

The OffenderWatch® Family Safety App is the only free app that partners directly with local law enforcement to cross-reference sex offender data from over 4,000 participating agencies with geographic information system (GIS) map resources to provide reliable, dynamic location tracking and records access to help safeguard your entire family. As a free Family Safety App user, you’ll also receive an email notification if a registered sex offender moves into your neighborhood, while our inbox feature enables click-through access to contact your local law enforcement agency with concerns, questions, or tips.

To access customizable bonus features and add extra security for your entire family, you can upgrade your OffenderWatch® Family Safety App to include a Family Watch subscription for just $4.99 a month.

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Add family member on OffenderWatch app

How Do I Add a Child?

STEP 1

From your phone, add your child’s profile and name.
Tap "Save and Add Device", then enter the child’s phone number when prompted. Once the phone number has been added, a link will be sent to your child’s phone. If you don't already have your child's phone with you, retrieve it now.

STEP 2

Install the app on your child’s phone.
Click the link in the message and follow the instructions to download the OffenderWatch® Family Safety App on your child’s device.

SUCCESS!

After completing these two steps, open the OffenderWatch® App on your child’s phone to ensure that it will continue to run in the background while using relatively little battery power. If your child accidentally deletes the app, the OffenderWatch team will record a loss of tracking ability and alert you to the problem.

What Is Child Check-In?

If your child's location has not updated recently or remains stationary for longer than expected, our Child Check-In feature will send a message to ensure the child is safe and able to respond. Once your child acknowledges the message, the updated information is forwarded to our server so that the child's location and activity can be logged appropriately. Parents can also request a Child Check-In by locating your child on the map and tapping the Check In button.

For questions or concerns regarding location updates or network performance, please contact us at support@offenderwatch.com.

Check location on offenderwatch  app of child

Why Do I Need the Free Family Safety App?

In the United States alone, there are more than 900,000 registered sex offenders. The free OffenderWatch® Family Safety App helps you protect your children from these dangerous individuals with real-time updates, instant notifications, and helpful parent resources. Use our dynamic map to view family members' locations or search for registered sex offenders in your vicinity, and receive alerts if a new offender moves in nearby.

How Do I Add iCloud Monitoring?

OffenderWatch icloud setup

If your child is using an iPhone or other iOS-based device, Apple's data-sharing restrictions require you to complete one additional step to implement iCloud monitoring. We'll run these functions in the background to avoid affecting performance of your child’s phone, but this process is necessary to ensure full capability for Family Watch subscribers.

Follow the instructions below to turn on iCloud monitoring and/or activate your Family Watch features on your child's Apple phone or tablet. You will need your child’s device, Apple ID, and password.  
Forgot my Apple ID? Here is what to do.

STEP 1

Open your child’s profile and click Add iCloud.
Read and follow the instructions to proceed. 

STEP 2

When prompted, enter your child’s Apple ID and password.
After entering the Apple ID and password, click Submit. The app will connect to Apple to verify your child’s iCloud account. Enter the 6-digit authentication code that was sent to your child’s device to confirm.  

What Types of Email Does the App Monitor?

OffenderWatch has the capacity to screen incoming messages to all Microsoft, Yahoo, and Gmail addresses and their subsidiary email providers. Many school-issued email addresses are supported by one of these services, so be sure to ask your child's school which platform they use.

What Is Family Watch and How Do I Upgrade?

For only $4.99 a month, you can utilize premium alerts for all devices in your family group and customize them as needed for each child.  If someone from our comprehensive sex offender registry contacts your child, or if your child remains in close proximity to a registered offender’s home, OffenderWatch® Family Watch subscribers will receive instant notifications of these potential threats.

Upgrade To family watch