Be Closer vs Hauk

Be Closer is a family locator app for Android and iOS that places invited circle members on a private live map. Members must accept an invitation before appearing, and they can pause sharing or leave the circle at any time. Places lets users set geofences and receive alerts when members arrive or leave. A one-tap SOS sends a member’s live location to the whole circle, while location history can show where members have been today, this week, or last month. The maker says the app can show a family phone’s last known location even after its battery dies, and that typical daily battery use is under 3%. It describes the app for kids and teens, aging parents, partners, siblings, and roommates. The app is available in 13 languages. The Free plan costs nothing and includes real-time location. Premium costs $3.99 a month; Family costs $6.99 a month. Both paid plans include unlimited location history and Places, and Family covers the whole circle. Final pricing is shown in-app.

Hauk is a free, open-source service for sharing a phone’s live location through a backend that users host themselves. With its Android app, a user can set how long to share, then send a link for others to follow the location on a map. Sharing ends when the set period expires or the user stops it, and anyone with the link can view the location while it is active. The app sends location data only to the Hauk server configured in its settings. Running it therefore requires a server with PHP and Memcached or Redis, including the corresponding PHP extensions. Deployment options include manual or scripted installation, an Arch Linux AUR package, and an official Docker image. The project supports end-to-end encryption, LDAP authentication, and Tasker share starts; the Android app also supports HTTP and SOCKS proxies. Hauk is licensed under Apache-2.0. Its public demo is limited to two-minute shares and is intended for demonstration. The project recommends HTTPS through a reverse proxy to protect data in transit.