A T-Mobile-made app that parents use to track the location of their children suffered a terrifying glitch, sparking panic.
The app is paired with a small GPS device, called SyncUP, which fits inside a child's backpack and allows parents to keep an eye on their kids through the T-Life app.
Some parents who logged into the app on Tuesday found they could no longer see where their kids were.
To make matters even more disturbing, parents realized they could see the exact, real-time locations of other random children across the country.
Terrified parents took to social media to share what was happening.
One X user addressed T-Mobile directly, saying: 'Y'all need to figure out your systems because I should not be able to see other people's children on my SyncUP locations and not be able to see MY OWN CHILD.'
'I'm getting locations for kids [i don't know] from different states but can't get my son's location,' they added.
Another X user wrote: 'I have three kids with watches. No visibility to them today though T-Life app. However, another person could see one of my children.'
'They called the principal at her school to let her know. I spoke with this person and found out she had access to 20 people,' they added.
On Wednesday, a spokesperson for T-Mobile told DailyMail.com: 'Yesterday we fully resolved a temporary system issue with our SyncUP products that resulted from a planned technology update.
'We are in the process of understanding potential impacts to a small number of customers and will reach out to any as needed. We apologize for any inconvenience.'
News of the glitch was first reported by 404 Media today.
'As a mother, this is super alarming to me, and I raised flags right away [with T-Mobile] and nobody took me seriously there,' a parent referred to by the pseudonym Jenna to protect her privacy told 404 Media.
'I was probably shown more than eight children. I would log in and I couldn't see my children but I could see a kid in California. I refreshed and then I had no trackers, and then I refreshed again and would see a different child,' she said.
Jenna sent 404 Media screenshots showing her logged into the app, which displayed the sensitive, real-time information about children in other states.
The data included the kids' names, their address-level locations and the last time the locations were updated, with many saying they were updated 'just now' or 'one minute ago.'
It was clear that the people being tracked were children because their profile pictures showed images of young kids wearing backpacks, and many of their locations shown were schools, 404 Media reported.
T-Mobile's SyncUP app isn't the only tracking device to have suffered a glitch like this.
For example, in December 2023, an issue with Ubiquiti home surveillance cameras allowed users to log into their apps and see live footage of other people's homes.
All apps and devices that allow you to track another person's location come with risk, because once they gather the data, it can be leaked or obtained by hackers, according to 404 Media.
Now that T-Mobile has resolved the issue, Jenna said she could see the correct locations of her own children Wednesday morning.
