T-Mobile tracking glitch exposed real-time location of children to strangers
The scary SyncUP bug also revealed the location of random cars, but the company says it has now been resolved.
- A T-Mobile glitch caused some users to see the names, photos, and real-time locations of random children instead of their own.
- A similar bug affected the company’s car tracking service, showing other people’s vehicles and data.
- T-Mobile says the issue stemmed from a system update and has now been fully resolved.
Tech updates don’t always go smoothly, but most bugs are usually nothing more than a mild inconvenience. However, a T-Mobile glitch this week went way beyond that territory, becoming outright dangerous. Some customers trying to check on their kids’ whereabouts were instead shown the names, pictures, and real-time locations of other people’s children across the country.
The issue affected users of the T-Mobile SyncUP KIDS tracking service, which is marketed as a way for parents to monitor young children who don’t yet have smartphones. One user, speaking to 404 Media, said she was unable to locate her own children but was instead shown profiles of multiple unfamiliar kids, including their school locations and photos that clearly showed they were minors.
