Can you track a number without them knowing if it's your teen's phone?

my teen keeps disappearing after school and i’m worried about where they’re actually going. i’ve tried the usual location settings but they always seem to get turned off. is there a way to see their phone activity without them realizing it?

Real talk: tracking just a phone number won’t give you live GPS or app history—that’s mostly carrier hype or sketchy software. You’ll need a few minutes of hands-on access to install a legit parental control app, but both iOS and Android will still drop a small location-sharing indicator, so true stealth mode just doesn’t exist anymore. Honestly, adding a persistent shared-location widget to their home screen and doing a casual “text me when you land” routine saves you a ton of drama without turning into a cat-and-mouse game over toggles.