It might seem harmless to use location-sharing apps to stay connected, but when that behavior carries over into romantic relationships, it can cross the line into something far more dangerous. Increasingly, young people around the world are using phone tracking as a way to stay connected to their partners—but experts warn it’s also fueling a disturbing rise in coercive control.
Recent research from Australia’s eSafety Commission has cast a stark light on this growing trend, revealing that nearly one in five young Australians aged 18 to 24 believe it’s normal to track their partner’s location. What many see as affection is increasingly recognized as a gateway to abusive, controlling behaviors—and experts say it’s happening worldwide.
Love or Surveillance? Normalized Tracking in Young Relationships
ABC News reports that apps like Life360, Find My iPhone, and Snap Maps were designed for convenience and safety. But their use in intimate relationships is reshaping how young people perceive boundaries. According to the eSafety Commission’s recent report, over 18% of young Australians expect to be able to track their partner “whenever they want.” Nearly a quarter see password sharing as a requirement for trust, and a third believe it’s acceptable to check how their partner appears in a photo before they can share it.
According to EducationHQ News, domestic violence lawyer Maneesha Prakash says this mindset is part of a troubling shift. “They think it’s normal. They think it’s part of somebody caring about them,” she explains. “That leads to toxic relationships and all the flow-on effects.” The problem, Prakash notes, is that many young people no longer recognize the red flags. They’ve been socialized to see surveillance as love and protection.
These behaviors fall under tech-based coercive control—a pattern of manipulation, domination, and isolation that often escalates over time. While not always accompanied by physical violence, it can be just as damaging.
The Global Rise of Tech-Facilitated Abuse
Australia is not alone in grappling with this issue. According to Victoria Police, technology-facilitated abuse reports in the state have risen 650% in just five years. In the UK, the Office for National Statistics found that a third of women aged 18 to 24 had experienced some form of controlling behavior by a partner. In the United States, the National Domestic Violence Hotline has warned that digital abuse is now one of the most commonly reported concerns, with survivors citing GPS tracking, account takeovers, and constant surveillance through shared devices.
As eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant puts it, “Technology can make coercive control feel normal, because it’s such a big part of young peoples’ lives” [via ACS]. She warns that while location sharing may begin as a mutual decision, it can rapidly become a tool of control, fear, and isolation. “The thing that’s so insidious,” she says, “is that a very determined predator can always exploit the loopholes.”
From Apps to Abuse: How Everyday Technology Becomes a Weapon
Perpetrators of coercive control increasingly exploit innocuous devices: smart home systems, shared calendars, even pet-feeders with tracking capabilities. In one case cited by the eSafety Commissioner, a woman’s ex-partner used her electronic cat feeder to monitor her movements inside her home.
Griffith University researcher María Atiénzar Prieto’s findings support this. Her study revealed that many young people are introduced to location-sharing apps by well-meaning parents—a dynamic that normalizes surveillance long before romantic relationships begin. She explained that participants described being monitored from a young age ‘for safety,’ but that expectation transferred to later relationships. It becomes the perfect tool for perpetrators of domestic violence.
This was tragically illustrated in the 2023 murder of Australian woman Lilie James, whose killer used Snap Maps to track her movements. The behavior, the court heard, had been excused as coming from “a place of love.”
What Needs to Change: Education, Awareness, and Digital Boundaries
The eSafety Commission has urged schools, parents, and tech companies to act. Their recommendations include modeling respectful digital behavior, teaching young people about consent and boundaries, and creating safer app environments through design-level safeguards.
Ashton Wood, CEO of DV Safe Phone, believes practical solutions are critical. His organization provides free, untraceable phones to survivors of domestic abuse. He explained that they see lots around technology-facilitated abuse and the only real way to escape it is to start fresh—with a phone the abuser doesn’t even know exists. DV Safe Phone has distributed more than 12,000 secure devices through shelters and police stations across Australia.
While Queensland has pledged to criminalize coercive control following the murder of Hannah Clarke and her children, similar legislative efforts are gaining traction globally. In the UK, coercive control has been a criminal offense since 2015, and Ireland followed suit in 2019. However, tech-specific legislation remains limited.
Inman Grant stressed the need for cultural change, explaining that it’s not about saying couples can’t share their locations. It’s about removing the expectation to monitor a partner’s every move. That’s not safety—it’s control.
Featured image: Phone tracking and coercive control. Source: Yuliia / Adobe Stock.
