Tile's new owner, Life360, reportedly sells users' location data to anyone

Life360, which recently agreed to acquire Tile, is reportedly selling the location data of its 33 million users to "virtually anyone who wants to buy it".

A new report from Markup has claimed Life360 is using its 13-year-old platform to collect and sell user data to third parties. Life360 is best known for its location-based family tracking service that enables your friends and family members to share their exact location with you and each other.

Life360 also offers features such as location history and favourite routes.

The San Francisco-based company apparently made $16 million last year alone from selling its users’ location data. It supposedly sold that data to marketing companies such as Cuebiq to run marketing campaigns. A former employee described Life360 as "one of the largest sources of data for the industry" - something that is especially eyebrow-raising given its acquisition of Tile, which makes a range of popular tracking devices.

Life360 CEO Chris Hulls told Markup said that its users' data is an "important part of our business model", allowing it to offer free services. However, according to Hulls, its privacy policy prevents it from selling data that can identify its users.

Hulls also said Life360 has no plans to sell data from Tile devices.

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