Custom Location Alerts for Arrivals and Departures

Not every place needs a generic geofence circle around it. Sometimes you just want to know: did my teen actually get to school? Did my partner arrive safely at their friend's house? Did Dad leave the house on time for his appointment? Custom location alerts answer exactly that question, for exactly the place you care about.

WheresNow's Places feature lets you mark any location, not just "home" or "work" defaults, and get notified when someone in your Circle arrives or leaves, usually within seconds.

What Is a Custom Place Alert?

A custom place alert is a notification tied to a specific location you define on the map, rather than a broad, always-on zone. You choose the spot, you choose who it applies to, and you choose whether you're notified on arrival, departure, or both. It's the difference between vaguely knowing where someone roams and knowing precisely when they hit the one address that matters right now.

Why Custom Places Beat Generic Geofencing

Generic radius alerts around a whole neighborhood get noisy fast, you'd get pinged every time someone drives past, not just when they actually stop somewhere. A custom Place alert is scoped tightly to the building or address itself, so notifications stay meaningful instead of becoming background noise you start to ignore.

How It Works in WheresNow

1. Drop a pin anywhere: search an address or long-press on the map to mark school, a relative's house, a workplace, or any location worth tracking.
2. Name it something recognizable: "Lincoln High School" or "Grandma's" makes alerts instantly readable instead of just coordinates.
3. Choose arrival, departure, or both: a parent might only need arrival pings for school, but want both for a teen's evening plans.
4. Pick who it applies to: Places can be scoped to specific Circle members, so you're not alerted every time an unrelated person passes through.
5. Get a push notification: as soon as their phone reports crossing the geofence, everyone with permission to see that alert gets notified.

Everyday Scenarios

Built on a Foundation of Trust

Custom Place alerts sit alongside the rest of what makes WheresNow a real safety tool, not just a tracker: automatic crash detection, one-tap SOS, and a 2-month location history with route playback if you ever need to look back at where someone actually went. And because WheresNow is built around transparency, every member of a Circle can see who has permission to view their location and set up alerts for them, nothing happens invisibly. WheresNow isn't an emergency service. In an emergency, call your local emergency number. Alerts depend on signal, battery and phone settings.

Over time, Places also builds a quiet diary of the spots that matter most to your family, so setting up a new alert for a new routine takes seconds, not a fresh search every time.

Getting Started

Custom Place alerts take a couple of minutes to set up and can save you a dozen "did you get there okay?" texts a week. Once they're in place, you stop wondering and start getting a heads-up automatically, usually within seconds.

Download WheresNow and set up your first Circle for free.