How involved are men in the digital tools families use to support child safety? New Findmykids research reveals that men play a substantial role in family safety app activity, even though women more often create family circles and use the app more regularly.
An analysis of U.S. family circles found that men had more active days than women in over one-third of circles where both adults used the app. The findings offer a closer look at a less visible aspect of family safety: how adults share the use of digital tools.
Published: October 2026
Region: United States
Population: 3,429 Findmykids family circles with one male adult, one female adult, and at least one child
Data Source: Aggregated Findmykids product analytics
Activity Period: September 1–30, 2026
Key Findings
- 67.87%: Both adults opened Findmykids in family circles where at least one adult had recorded app activity during September.
- 35.61%: Men had more active days than women in over one-third of family circles where both adults used the app.
- 35.49%: Men created more than one-third of the family circles included in the study.
- 50.16%: Approximately half of the men in the analyzed sample opened the location map or home screen at least once during September.
- 8 vs. 11 days: In circles where both adults opened the app, the median number of active days was eight for men and eleven for women.
Both Adults Use Family Safety Apps in Most Active Circles
Findmykids analyzed app activity across 3,064 U.S. family circles with sufficient account-device linkage data.
In 43.44% of these circles, both adults opened the app at least once during September. Another 12.30% recorded activity only from the woman, while 8.26% recorded activity only from the man.
In 36.00% of circles, neither adult had a recorded app opening during the study period.
Among the 1,961 circles where at least one adult had recorded activity, both adults used Findmykids in 67.87% of cases.
Shared app use was the most common pattern among family circles with recorded activity. Rather than being used exclusively by one adult, Findmykids was frequently accessed by both members of the adult pair.
Men Are More Active in More Than One-Third of Circles Where Both Adults Use the App
Among 1,331 family circles where both adults opened Findmykids during September, men had more active days in 35.61% of circles.
Women had more active days in 54.47%, while activity was approximately equal in 9.92%.
The median number of active days was eight for men and eleven for women. An active day was defined as a calendar day when an adult opened the app at least once.
Although women were more active overall, men recorded more active days in over one-third of family circles where both adults used the app. The findings show that men’s participation in family safety app activity is substantial, even when usage is not equally distributed.
Men Created More Than One-Third of Family Circles
Setting up a family circle is one observable part of using a family safety app.
Across all 3,429 circles studied, women created 63.60%, while men created 35.49%. In the remaining 0.90%, the creator was not identified as one of the two adults studied.
Women were also more likely to become active members first, doing so in 64.04% of circles, compared with 35.96% for men.
The median interval between the two adults first becoming active members was approximately 1.05 hours.
Women more often took the first recorded steps in creating and joining family circles, but men created more than one in three circles. Men’s participation therefore extends beyond simply using circles created by women.
Men and Women Show Relatively Small Gaps in Core App Feature Use
The location map or home screen was the most widely accessed feature included in the study.
During September, 50.16% of men opened this section at least once, compared with 54.47% of women — a difference of 4.31 percentage points.
The event feed was accessed by 45.99% of men and 51.86% of women, a difference of 5.87 percentage points.
The Places section had substantially lower recorded use: 2.58% of men and 4.28% of women opened it at least once.
These figures measure section openings. They do not confirm that an adult checked a child’s location, read a notification, or created a location-based alert.
Men’s use of the app’s core sections was only moderately lower than women’s. Approximately half of the men in the study opened the location map or home screen at least once during the month, highlighting their participation in everyday family safety app activity.
What the Findings Suggest About Digital Child Safety
The research reveals two patterns in how adults use Findmykids.
Women more often create family circles, become active members first, and use the app on more days during the month.
At the same time, men also participate substantially: they create more than one-third of circles, frequently access core app sections, and have more active days than women in over one-third of circles where both adults use the app.
These findings provide insight into how digital family safety tools are used within the studied family circles.
However, app activity alone cannot establish parenting quality, emotional involvement, or how responsibility for a child’s safety is divided within a household.
The findings challenge the assumption that family safety apps are used primarily by women alone. While women’s activity remains higher overall, men are also visible participants in the digital tools families use to support child safety.
Methodology
This research is based on aggregated Findmykids product analytics from family circles associated with the United States.
Findmykids is a family safety app that provides location-sharing and related tools to help families stay informed about their children’s whereabouts.
Study Population
The full sample included 3,429 family circles, each containing exactly two adults identified in their profiles as one man and one woman, plus at least one child.
Both adults had the United States listed in their profiles. Both adults and at least one child had become active members before September 2026, and each adult belonged to only one family circle.
All circles meeting these criteria were included; the study did not use a random sample.
Data and Measurement
Family-circle creation and the order in which adults became active members were analyzed across all 3,429 circles.
App activity and feature use were analyzed across 3,064 circles, representing 6,128 adults, for September 1–30, 2026.
The remaining 365 circles were excluded from activity calculations because they did not meet the account-device linkage requirements.
An active day meant a day with at least one recorded app opening. Feature use meant that an adult opened the relevant section at least once during September.
Activity was measured using a common calendar rather than converting events into each user’s local time zone.
Limitations
- Adult gender and role were taken from app profiles. Biological or legal relationships to children were not verified, so the results describe men and women in family circles rather than confirmed fathers and mothers.
- App openings do not establish why a person used Findmykids or whether they checked a child’s location.
- The analysis does not measure parenting quality, emotional involvement, or the division of childcare responsibilities outside the app.
- The study did not verify that both adults remained continuously active members throughout September.
- No recorded app openings in a circle do not necessarily mean the family stopped using the service.
- The results describe a specific group of Findmykids users and are not representative of all U.S. parents.
Conclusion
Findmykids data shows that women generally create family circles more often and use the app more regularly than men. However, men’s participation is also substantial across several measures.
Men created more than one-third of family circles, opened core app sections at rates approaching those of women, and had more active days in over one-third of circles where both adults used the app.
Digital family safety is not always a one-person activity. Among Findmykids family circles with recorded app use, both adults frequently participate — revealing a measurable, if uneven, pattern of shared engagement with family safety technology.
Need More Data?
For research inquiries, additional information about this study, or media requests, please contact the Findmykids Research Team.
