It is still early days, but GPS tracking has been on my mind, as I do worry about dad going out on his own. I have spent a bit of time looking into this and considering the benefits and pittfalls to different devices:
A mobile phone: I did buy a simple mobile for dad a few years ago but he has never used it. I am not sure that he would think to take it with him, but this could be a future option. See my post The Mobile for an overview of the Doro phone I would buy if we do go down this route.
A Specialist GPS device: I have been considering this but the challenges I forsee are keeping it charged and making sure dad takes it with him.
Air tag: I don’t have an apple phone so would need to get one. From what I have read, they only work when picked up by other apple phones, so may not be very useful in a rural area.
Tile: having researched alternatives to apple airtags, I decided to try a tile. Here is a link: https://www.tile.com/en-gb/product/black-matehttps://www.tile.com/en-gb/product/black-mate
I hoped that the tile would enable us to locate dad if he became lost. I had noticed that dad’s key, which he keeps in his wallet, didn’t have a fob, so I thought it would work well. I should add that I did not do this covertly. At every step of tghe way we have made sure that dad has been fully involved in decisions.
| Positives | Downsides |
| The great thing with the tile is the ability to find dad’s key if he loses it within the house. I have it linked to an app called Life 360 on my phone. Here is a link: https://www.life360.com/en-gb | This does not have the capability of a GPS tracker. It works on bluetooth so would only be picked up by other phones that have bluetooth switched on. |
| I can use the app to make the tile make a noise if I am in range (according to the website, around 100 metres). | |
| Dad typically will take his wallet with him when he goes out, so will have the tile with him. |
The Dementia Diaries:Tales from an unprepared carer 
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