Verizon Wireless has mothballed their Chaperone service and has replaced it with Verizon Family Locator. The new service is now not only easier to get, but there are increased options for smartphones and an improved web interface for the service. Family Locator allows subscribers the ability to keep track of family members through the use of GPS technology.

The Family Locator service can now be added to a subscription by simply signing up online. There is no longer any need to visit a store or to contact customer service. Users can simply run through an Activation Wizard to get signed up.

Another nice feature of the service is that the locator, not the locatee, can now use nearly any Verizon Wireless smartphone. Some Family Locator features can even be accessed through a Web browser so that profiles can be changed or family members can be located. Speaking of locating family members, the new Family Locator Web allows locations to be seen in a 3-D bird eye’s view. The website will also provide the nearest address to the location of loved ones.

The Family Locator service is available to Verizon Wireless subscribers for US$10 a month. Current Chaperone users can continue to use their Parent and Child applications. All current settings will be saved for use with Family Locator.

Read more from the Verizon Wireless press release

Brian’s Opinion

With some of the crazy news reports you see these days it’s no wonder there is a growing desire by parents to stay in touch. That’s the reason behind services like Verizon Wireless’ Family Locator. Ok, there’s the crazy teenager who always gets in trouble and who is late coming home on Friday nights that makes the service useful as well.

I’m glad to see Verizon Wireless improve the Chaperone service. I must admit I wasn’t a big fan of it. I mean, it did what it was supposed to do, but didn’t really offer any additional extras that made it worthwhile. I think Family Locator might change that.

Probably the most significant change is that you can access location information from the web browser of just about any Verizon Wireless smartphone. That’s nice, because it sucked to have to pick a phone compatible with the Chaperone service when you only needed the service to track another phone. The 3-D bird’s eye view of locations online is also a nice little addition which makes Family Locator a great replacement for the Chaperone service.