Club Benefits
HeyPolo is looking to fundamentally change how location sharing apps operate.
The newly launched service was built by Surfshark, and bills itself as a "privacy-focused alternative" to the likes of Life360 – a market leader.
Location sharing apps need to know your location to work – that's non-negotiable. But data collected about you and your movements may also be used to serve highly targeted ads and be sold to third-parties.
With HeyPolo claiming it never sells this data to third-parties, I decided to compare the privacy policies of HeyPolo and its biggest rival, Life360 – what data do they actually collect and which is the most private?
Length & Readability
The privacy policies I analyzed varied in length and complexity. HeyPolo's totalled 4,509 words, and the Hemingway Readability Checker rated it at Grade 8 – which is typically the final year of middle school, covering the ages 13-14. The average American reads at a Grade 7-8 level, so HeyPolo is already starting off on the right foot.
Life360's privacy policy was the longest, totalling 9,949 words. It was rated at Grade 14, which means you'd need a college degree to fully understand it.
Understanding a privacy policy is vitally important and not doing so can pose a risk to your personal data. In March 2026, Tom's Guide analyzed 24 VPN privacy policies and found that 87% are too hard to read.
Data Collected
Moving on to the meat of the privacy policies, let's start by examining what personal data is actually collected by each app.
These apps collect your location data. Without it, the apps simply wouldn't work. But where they differ is who can see it and whether it's shared with third-parties for advertising purposes.
What you need to know ✅
HeyPolo and Life360 collect a similar amount of personal data. Your email address and payment details are taken upon account sign-up, and – of course – your geolocation data is recorded.
Both apps collect data that estimates your speed, movement, and how you're travelling – HeyPolo asks for additional consent to do this, while Life360 appears to not.
Life360 collects more data overall, including keystrokes and mouse movements when you visit its website, as well as optional emergency contact and pet information.
The nature of these apps means significant data collection, and Life360 edges it in terms of pure numbers. What's more important is what is done with this data, and I'll explore that in the next section.
Explore data collection in more detail ▼
HeyPolo
HeyPolo allows you to create groups within its app. These groups are who can see your location data, and you need a HeyPolo account to sign up. When you sign up for an account, HeyPolo collects your email address, your name, your group, and your role within the group.
HeyPolo costs $3.59 per month ($43.08 upfront) for a one-year subscription. Your payment information, residence country and state, credit card information, and data of payment is all collected.
When using HeyPolo, the following data is collected:
- Geolocation data
- Added places
- Familiar area
- Trip information
- Names of group members
- Group member geolocation
- Member shared information
- Motion and fitness activity (separate consent)
- Arrival and departure time
- Trip dates
- Trip duration
- Emergency contact information (if added)
HeyPolo allows you to control who the above information is shared with. You can share your location, and all trip information, with your group 24/7 or limit who can see the information and for how long. You can enable Exact or General location, and also enable Private Mode, which turns all sharing off.
The following data is collected for technical support and analytics purposes:
- Device model, app version, and OS
- Cookie ID
- Device identifiers
- Device specification
- IP address
- Browser information
- Advertising IDs
Life360
Life360 offers monthly and annual plans. It has a free version, and paid plans start at $7.99 per month or $79.99 upfront.
Upon account creation, Life360 collects:
- Your username, email address, real name, nickname, password phone number, date of birth, and shipping and billing addresses
- Photo (optional)
- Government-ID or selfie (for age verification purposes if app is being used by a child)
- Payment information, subscription duration, and type of subscription
If you customize your app, Life360 will collect this data. This is optional but can include:
- Location labels
- Emergency information e.g., height, weight, gender, ethnicity, medical conditions
- Pet information eg., breed, color, weight, gender, picture
Your social security number, and other government identifiers, may be collected if you win a Life360 sweepstake. Social media interactions with Life360 are collected, as is anything relating to customer service interactions.
When using Life360, it collects:
- Device information including OS, IP address, browser information, device make/model, Wi-Fi connection, battery status, and advertising identifiers
- Gelocation data
- Driving Event & Motion Activity data including speed, altitude, and heading
Life360 collects data when you use its app, visit its website, or read its emails. Data includes, but isn't limited to:
- Cookies
- Log files
- SDKs
- Embedded scripts
- Location-identifying technologies
- Ads viewed
- Mouse movements & keystrokes
- Items browsed and/or placed in your cart
Life360 says it "may combine this information with other personal information we collect about you." This builds up an enormous picture of your daily habits and, if it's shared with third-parties, poses quite serious privacy risks.
Messages to other members of your "Circle" are collected, along with any photos or videos you send to other users. With permission, Life360 can access your on-device photo or camera roll.
Its privacy policy also states it may "derive" information or make inferences about you based on the data it collects. It says it "may predict that you would be interested in certain offerings or send you certain reminders based on how you have previously interacted with our Services or your typical movement patterns."
Data Sharing
The sheer amount of data collected is quite shocking. But the crucial factor is whether and how it is shared with third-parties.
What you need to know ✅
The headline here is Life360 may share your geolocation data with third-parties, including advertisers, and HeyPolo does not.
This is a crucial difference and a big plus point for HeyPolo.
Life360 does seem to suggest you can opt-out of ad-based data sharing but it's not 100% clear – different web pages say different things.
This is enough of a reason to recommend HeyPolo over Life360.
Explore data sharing in more detail ▼
HeyPolo
As mentioned above, you can choose who sees your location data and for how long. What this section is referring to is data sharing with third-parties.
HeyPolo says it will only share your personal data when it's "necessary" and/or "legally required." It says it will "never sell or trade your data." This does not mean however that no data sharing takes place at all.
Data is shared with "marketing, application analytics service providers" including Firebase Analytics and AppsFlyer. HeyPolo says this is to manage contacts and automate marketing.
It uses "transactional email service providers" to send transactional emails. Storage and infrastructure service providers are used to help analyze, store, and manage data. Third-party payment providers are used to process payments, and data is shared with "Group companies" to support daily operations.
Data may be shared with another company should a merger or takeover occur and data is only shared with authorities when HeyPlo is "legally obliged to do so." Data sharing with other parties takes place only with user permission.
The HeyPolo website uses cookies, and has numerous "functional" cookies that help its website operate and cannot be turned off. It utilises its own cookies and these include analytic cookies used to store information across single and multiple sessions.
Third-party cookies are also used. Cloudflare's security cookie cannot be turned off but there are three advertising and analytic cookies that do have an opt-out option. These are Meta Platforms (Advertising), Google (Advertising), and AppsFlyer (Analytics, Advertising).
Where possible you should always reject any optional cookies.
HeyPolo confirmed to Tom's Guide that it "does not share geolocation, trip history, or movement data with any third-party marketing or analytics partners."
It added that this makes location-based targeted advertising "technically and contractually impossible."
In other words, if your daily coffee shop visit is recorded on HeyPolo, you shouldn't see any targeted adverts for coffee.
HeyPolo also said the likes of Firebase and AppsFlyer "receive only the minimum data required" to operate. It said "they are not collecting or otherwise processing geolocation data."
Life360
Like HeyPolo, Life360 shares your location information with those in your Circle. You don't appear to have the same level of control over data sharing as you do with HeyPolo, but some do exist.
You can activate a Bubble, which temporarily "obfuscates your precise location" but continues to show your general location. You also have the option to turn location sharing off for one or more of your Circles. In this case, Life360 will still collect your location to share with emergency services and/or provide location-based advertising.
Life360 says it may disclose your personal information to vendors and consultants helping provide its services. Services include: Accounting, Managerial, Technical, Email, SMS/Text, Chat, Marketing, Research, Analytics, Fraud prevention, Bot detection, and Web hosting.
The key difference between Life360 and HeyPolo, is Life360 explicitly states that your precise geolocation data may be shared with third-parties and business partners "for their own uses" – this appears to include advertising and monetization.
These third-parties may then derive insights on you when combined with other information and Life360 says ads may be "targeted" as a result of its data sharing.
Life360 says it gives you the opportunity to limit information sharing with third-parties and opt-out of data sharing for advertising purposes.
However, opting out of data sharing for advertising appears to only apply to its website, and not its app. In a page separate to its privacy policy, it states that opting out "is a web-based choice only, and does not affect app-based personal information sales or sharing."
It also notes that third-parties may send you personalized or location-based ads based on your previous locations or data collected from other websites and apps.
Further down its privacy policy, Life360 does seem to indicate your ability to turn off targeted advertising data sharing within its app – contrary to what it says on its other website page. It says if you opt-out you'll still see ads, but it "will not use third-party data to select these ads."
If nothing else, this is confusing and unclear. We'd advise thoroughly checking the privacy settings of both your Life360 app and account, and disable any third-party data sharing you can.
Certain Life360 plans include extra service, such as Crash Detection and Roadside Assistance. Precise geolocation, IP address, driving event data, and mobile device information are all shared with these third-parties for them to provide their service.
As well as the above, Life360 may share personal data with law enforcement when required to do so, and in the event of a merger or company sale.
Data Security
The data collected by these location sharing apps is highly personal and sensitive. If a hacker managed to access it then the consequences could be devastating, for you and for your family – how your data is protected is therefore crucial.
What you need to know ✅
Both HeyPolo and Life360 say they are committed to, and care about, your data's security.
HeyPolo encrypts your data during transfer, has firewalls, and completes security audits. It gives more specific examples of data security practices than Life360.
Life360 only references encryption when talking about data connected to its physical trackers. For its app based data, it says it's "implemented appropriate standards."
Neither app has particularly comprehensive information on how they secure your data, though. This is something I'd like to see both expand on.
Explore data collection in more detail ▼
HeyPolo
HeyPolo says it is "deeply committed to protecting your security and privacy." It protects data with SSL/TLS encryption during transfers, and operates firewalls and regular security audits.
It does make the point that "no online service can guarantee 100% security" and you provide your data at your own risk.
Life360
Life360 says it "cares about the security of your information," but, like HeyPolo, "cannot absolutely guarantee" the security of its systems.
It says "Life360 Pet GPS and Jiobit location data is encrypted at rest and while in transit" – both of these are physical tracking tags. There is no other mention of encrypted data in Life360's privacy policy, which leads us to assume standard location data is not encrypted.
No specific security measures are listed, Life360 simply says it has "implemented appropriate standards to reduce the risk of unauthorized or unlawful access of your personal information."
Data Retention
Data retention refers to how long a company holds data on you, with timescales that can varying dramatically.
In some cases you can request data to be deleted, or it's automatically deleted when you cease to have an account – but there's no hard and fast rule.
What you need to know ✅
HeyPolo's data retention varies in length, depending on its use. Most importantly, geolocation data is kept until you withdraw your consent. All other retention lengths vary from two years to indefinitely.
Life360 doesn't give any specifics over how long it keeps your data, it keeps it as long as you use its products or services.
Both apps may keep data for longer should they need it for instances such as legal cases.
Explore data collection in more detail ▼
HeyPolo
HeyPolo retains data for varying lengths of time. A majority of your data is kept while your account is active and for 2 years after your last login. Payment information is retained for 10 years from its receipt, while geolocation and motion and fitness data is kept until you withdraw your consent.
Aggregated anonymized data, for market research and internal analytics, is kept indefinitely. HeyPolo says it may need to store data for longer to comply with legal obligations.
Life360
Life360 keeps it simple – and vague – when it comes to data retention. It says it retains your data as long as you use its products and services or "as otherwise necessary." Necessary retention can include resolving disputes, legal defences, audits, and business interests. Data retention may vary depending on its purpose.
Life360 doesn't say whether your data is deleted as soon as your stop using its app or not.
Conclusion
It's clear that both apps collect a lot of personal information and you need to be aware of this before downloading and using them.
HeyPolo is designed to be a privacy-focused alternative to Life360 and following analysis of both privacy policies, this does appear to be the case.
Life360 collects more data and it is clear that your location data may be shared with third-parties.
HeyPolo, on the hand, does not share your location data – and this is the biggest, and most important, difference between the two apps.
HeyPolo's location sharing options allow for more freedom and control over your privacy and this is welcomed, particularly if you're setting up family groups and are concerned about your children's information and whereabouts.
One advantage Life360 has over HeyPolo is it boasts a free plan. Beyond its free-trial, HeyPolo is a paid service only. Life360 Free is not nearly as comprehensive as the paid versions, but it does give you the option to track your friends and family for free – but you are paying with your data.
However neither app is perfect and location sharing apps come with certain risks that cannot be changed, such as the theft of any data that those companies hold.
From our initial analysis, though, we would say that HeyPolo is a more private location sharing option and we'd recommend it over Life360.
We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example: 1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service). 2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad. We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.
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