Please visit our Privacy Notice for Kids with your child to help them understand how Verizon Family treats information collected from and about them.

Verizon Family (previously Smart Family) allows family members to locate each other’s devices and includes parental control tools for parents (known as Guardians) and others they allow (known as Members) to manage and monitor the devices of children (known as Dependents), including setting trusted contacts, device time restrictions, usage limits, and content filters; pausing the internet; and monitoring website browsing and app activity, driving behavior and events, and cellular call and text activity. Verizon Family also includes Safe Walk, a feature that allows users to easily send their real time device location to their emergency contacts. Verizon Family Plus also includes Roadside Assistance.

Verizon Family’s privacy practices are covered by Verizon’s Privacy Policy as well as the practices described here. In the event of a conflict between the two policies, the practices described in this policy govern when using Verizon Family services. 

Read Verizon’s Privacy Policy

Information we collect from Guardians and Members. When Guardians and Members download the Verizon Family app, we may collect information from their device, including device identifiers, IP address, device type, app version, and application and feature usage. If Guardians or Members allow it, Verizon Family will collect location (from the mobile device and, if they have a Verizon Wireless mobile line, from the wireless network) and motion activity information (for example, if they’re walking, running, biking, or in a vehicle). If permitted, we will also access their device’s contact list to enhance the call and text activity information provided about Dependents.

If they turn on driving activity monitoring for their device, Verizon Family will also use motion activity, location, and device usage data to determine driving insights and behaviors, such as trip route and distance, top speed, braking, accelerating, cornering, potential crash events, and device usage while in a moving vehicle, and use this information to calculate individual trip driving scores and an overall driving score.

Guardians and Members can also provide emergency contacts for themselves and Guardians can for their Dependents. These emergency contacts will receive a text message with the user’s real time device location if the user initiates a Safe Walk session or an SOS alert during a Safe Walk session. Guardians can also enable Roadside Assistance for themselves and their Dependents and, in the event they request service, their name, phone number, car details, the requested service, and the address they provide for service, will be shared with our Roadside Assistance provider, Signature Motor Club.

When Guardians add a Dependent to their Verizon Family account, we may collect the Dependent’s name and photo, phone number and other device information, date of birth, trusted contacts and emergency contacts. We also collect information about the features Guardians want to use on the Dependent’s device, including time and usage restrictions, content filters, whether the Dependent is a passenger or driver (for driving insights), and whether Roadside Assistance is enabled. When a Guardian invites other Guardians and Members to join the Verizon Family account, we collect their names and phone numbers.

Information we collect from devices designated as Dependents (including children under 13). We collect the Dependant’s location from the wireless network; data usage and cellular call and text activity; and mobile device info, such as phone number and device identifiers. 

When the Verizon Family Companion app is downloaded on a Dependent’s device, we may also collect additional information from the device, including other device identifiers, IP address, device type, app version, and application and feature usage. If permitted, Verizon Family will also collect GPS location, contacts stored on the device, and motion activity. When the Verizon Family Virtual Private Network (VPN) is set up on the device for content filtering and web and app monitoring, we collect information about the websites visited and apps launched on the device. We also collect a PIN from the Dependent which they can use to cancel an SOS alert during a Safe Walk session.

When driving insights are enabled on a Dependent’s device, we collect motion and location data to determine driving insights and behaviors from the Dependent’s device, such as trip route and distance, top speed, braking, accelerating, cornering, and potential crash events, and will use this information to calculate individual trip driving scores. Unless the Dependent is designated as a passenger by the Guardian, we will also collect device usage while in a moving vehicle, and use the driving data and device usage data to calculate an overall driving score. 

When Roadside Assistance is enabled for a Dependent and they request service,  we will collect their name, phone number, car details, the requested service, and the service address.

For mobile devices connected to the Verizon network, including Dependent lines, we collect an E-911 address for emergency response.

Verizon Family does not collect more information from Dependents’ devices than is necessary to render Verizon Family services. Verizon Family does not enable users of Dependent devices to make their personal information publicly available. 

How we use information collected. Verizon Family uses the information we collect to deliver, maintain and support Verizon Family services and for analytics. We may use mobile device information collected from a Guardian or Member’s device, including device identifiers, to measure the effectiveness of advertisements for Verizon Family services that you may have seen and in accordance with the Verizon Privacy Policy. 

Location and other information we collect concerning Dependent devices may be considered sensitive personal information under some state laws.

We disclose your Dependent’s personal information to others on your Verizon Family account and to service providers who work on our behalf. These service providers may use personal information disclosed to them only to provide Verizon Family services and analytics, and are required to delete the information when it is no longer needed to provide the service. We do not sell information we collect from Dependents as part of this service or information from or about Dependents’ devices or share it for any other purpose, including targeted advertising. 

For Guardians and Members. Guardians and Members are asked to consent to the collection of certain information from their devices, including location, motion activity data, and device contacts. They may choose not to share their device location or may choose to share it with other Guardians on the Verizon Family account or with everyone on the Verizon Family account (including Dependents, Members and Guardians). They can update their location sharing choices and turn driving activity monitoring off in the settings menu of the Verizon Family app. If they turn off their location permission in their device settings but do not update their location sharing permission in their Verizon Family in-app settings, Verizon Family will continue to collect their device’s location from the Verizon wireless network, if available. They can also update their motion activity data and device contacts permissions in their device settings. 

For Dependents. When Guardians set up Verizon Family, they are asked to provide consent for Verizon Family to collect personal information from Dependent devices, including for location; motion activity data; call and text activity and data usage; mobile telephone number; device identifiers, device type, app version, and IP address; child name and photo; date of birth; device contacts; websites and apps accessed; driving activity such as trip details, potential crash events and phone usage; and when Roadside Assistance is enabled, certain additional information is collected and shared when service is requested. When Dependents download the Verizon Family Companion app, they are also asked to consent to the collection of certain information, including location, motion activity data, device contacts, and installation of a VPN to monitor web and app activity. Permission can be revoked for the collection of all personal information from a Dependent by removing the Verizon Family Dependent profile in the Guardian’s Verizon Family app. We will continue to collect information to provide wireless service to the line.

If the Verizon Family Companion app is removed from a Dependent’s device, precise location, real-time motion activity, screen time monitoring and web, app and driving activity monitoring services will not be collected by Verizon Family and therefore will not be available within Verizon Family for those Dependent devices. Precise location collection can be turned off in the Dependent’s device settings. If a Dependent’s location sharing permission is changed in their device settings or if the Verizon Family Companion app is uninstalled, device location from the wireless network will continue to be collected and shared in Verizon Family. To stop all location sharing in Verizon Family, the Guardian must remove the Verizon Family Dependent profile. 

Dependents can update other permissions in their device settings, such as for motion activity data collection, contact list collection, and the VPN (which allows certain web and app activity monitoring). When the Verizon Family VPN is uninstalled from the Dependent’s device, Verizon Family web browsing and app activity monitoring services are disabled, but screen time information may still be collected if the Dependent device uses an Android operating system and the Android device settings permit it. Dependents can also turn off driving insights in the Verizon Family Companion app settings and Guardians can disable Roadside Assistance in the Verizon Family app settings.

Guardians may review the personal information collected by Verizon Family from Dependent devices. For more information or assistance with these choices, you can contact us at [email protected]. 

You may have additional privacy rights under state privacy laws. You can read more in the full privacy policy.

Last Update: November, 2024