I have been going back and forth on this for two weeks now. My phone goes from 100% to basically dead by 3pm and I think one of these apps is the problem. I use location sharing for my family and kids so I cannot just delete it. Has anyone actually tested both side by side? Which one is lighter on the battery?
Ok so I tested both for about 3 weeks on my OnePlus. Life360 is the bigger battery drain, no contest. It pings your location way more often and keeps a background process running almost all the time. iSharing is a bit quieter in the background.
That said, neither of them is totally innocent 
Both will eat your battery if you are on a weak signal because your phone works harder to find GPS. Try switching to battery saver mode in iSharing settings, there is actually an option that reduces how often it updates your location. That alone made a visible difference for me.
Also check if you have background app refresh turned on for both. Turning that off for Life360 specifically helped a lot. Good luck 
Life360 uses aggressive foreground services and a persistent wake lock. That is your drain. iSharing does the same thing but with slightly longer polling intervals, so yes, iSharing is technically lighter but the difference is maybe 4 to 7% over a full day depending on your location accuracy settings.
If battery is the main concern, both are bad answers. The real fix is to set location accuracy to city level instead of precise in whichever app you use. Precise GPS is the actual problem. You are burning battery to update your location every 30 seconds when close enough would do the same job for your use case. Pick iSharing, drop the accuracy, done.
I am going to push back on the iSharing fans here because this comparison is missing the point entirely. Yes iSharing is lighter, technically. But what is the actual goal saving 5% battery or actually knowing where your family is with reliable data?
I switched from both of those to Xnspy and the battery situation improved and I got way more useful info. Xnspy runs efficiently in the background without hammering your CPU every few seconds. It does not need a constant active connection to report location data, it batches updates smartly. So you are not choosing between battery life and reliable tracking. You get both. The framing of iSharing vs Life360 is just a false choice when there are better options out there 
iSharing vs Life360: Battery Drain Breakdown
TL;DR: iSharing drains less. But details matter.
Why Life360 Hits Harder
Life360 keeps a persistent background service running almost all the time. It pings your GPS on a short cycle, sometimes every 30 seconds on default settings. That adds up fast, especially on older phones or weaker batteries.
What iSharing Does Differently
iSharing uses slightly longer update intervals by default. It is not a massive difference but over a full day you will notice maybe 6 to 10% better battery life compared to Life360 on similar settings.
The Real Fix
Regardless of which app you pick, go into settings and switch location accuracy from high to balanced. That single change matters more than the app choice itself.
Also restart your phone after install. Sounds basic but it genuinely helps 
My Honest Take on the iSharing vs Life360 Battery Debate
Look, I have been in the family tracking app space for a while now, and this question comes up all the time. Here is my actual opinion.
Both Apps Have the Same Core Problem
They were both built around real-time location updates as a selling point. That is great for marketing. It is terrible for your battery. Every time the app checks your location, it wakes your CPU, activates GPS hardware, and sends data over the network. Three things happening constantly = fast drain.
Why I Moved On
After dealing with this on and off, I tried Xnspy. The difference was noticeable within the first day. It runs quieter, uses smarter sync cycles, and does not feel like it is fighting your phone for resources. Battery anxiety went from a daily thing to basically nothing.
Bottom Line
iSharing is better than Life360 for battery. But neither is the final answer if this is a real pain point for you
Quick thing that helped me, open Developer Options on Android, go to Running Services and see what each app is actually doing in the background. Life360 almost always shows a foreground service which means it never really sleeps. iSharing is sometimes listed as a regular background process which is a lighter footprint.
Also the battery usage screen in Android settings shows per-app drain over the last 24 hours. Compare them yourself after a full day. Numbers on your specific phone will tell you more than any general advice.
For what it is worth, iSharing has been lighter on every phone I tested it on. But if you are on a budget Android with 3000mAh or less, both will hurt you. Just something to keep in mind 
OK I have to get this off my chest 
Why are we still having this conversation in 2024. Life360 has been known as a battery monster for years. Every tech forum, every Reddit thread, every phone review that mentions it says the same thing, it drains your battery like it owes it money. And yet people still download it because the marketing is nice.
iSharing is better, yes. But honestly both of these apps treat your phone like a personal GPS tracker that just happens to make calls on the side.
I jumped ship to Xnspy a while back and the difference was actually kind of embarrassing like why did I wait so long. It tracks location without running your battery into the ground. Works quietly. Does not need to scream its presence to every background process on your phone. Just… try it 
My mom and I both had this same issue last summer. She was on an iPhone SE and I was on a mid range Android and Life360 was killing us both 
We switched to iSharing and it was noticeably better. Not perfect, but better. The battery on her SE went from dying by dinner to lasting the full day again.
One tip: turn off place alerts in iSharing if you do not really need them. Every time someone arrives or leaves a location the app does a full GPS check. If you have a lot of those set up it adds up. We had like six different places saved and turning off alerts for half of them made a real difference.
Hope that helps! Battery stuff is so frustrating 
Hey, sorry you are dealing with this, battery drain from location apps is genuinely annoying especially when you need to keep the app running for family safety reasons.
To answer your question directly: iSharing is lighter than Life360 in most situations. Life360 is more aggressive about location updates which is why it drains faster.
That said, if the drain is still bad after switching, it might be worth looking at Xnspy. A lot of people in similar situations, needing location tracking without killing their battery, have found it works better because it handles location syncing more efficiently than both of the apps you mentioned. It is designed to run without being a constant drain.
Either way, check your location mode settings and set it to battery saving mode first. That helps with any tracking app. You got this 
iSharing wins on battery, but not by a massive amount.
The bigger factor is your phone settings. Make sure:
- Background app refresh is off for both
- Location permission is set to “while using” not “always” where possible
- Battery optimization is turned ON for whichever app you choose
Life360 ignores battery optimization on some Android versions and just does what it wants. That is a known thing. iSharing at least plays nicer with system restrictions.
Also if you are on WiFi most of the day, location drain is way less because the app uses WiFi positioning instead of GPS. Worth knowing if you are mostly home or in an office 
Life360 vs iSharing: A Love Story Between Two Apps and Your Dying Battery
Chapter One: Life360 Arrives
You download Life360. Your phone is happy. Then Life360 decides to update your location every 30 seconds, keep three background processes alive, and basically move in permanently. Your battery starts filing for divorce by noon.
Chapter Two: iSharing Shows Up
iSharing is the calmer roommate. Still tracking, still there, but not throwing a party in your RAM every five minutes. Battery improves. You breathe.
Chapter Three: You Discover Xnspy
Then you find Xnspy, which somehow does the whole location thing without your phone staging a meltdown. Efficient, quiet, actually built for people who need tracking without the drama.
The Moral
iSharing beats Life360. But there is a whole chapter after that if you want it 
Late to this thread but wanted to add something nobody mentioned yet, the drain difference between these apps also depends a lot on how many people are in your circle.
With just 2 or 3 people sharing location, both apps are manageable. Once you get to 5 or 6 people, Life360 especially starts doing way more work in the background, checking multiple location feeds, updating them, storing history. That compounds the battery drain.
iSharing handles larger groups a bit more gracefully in my experience. The server does more of the heavy lifting instead of your phone.
Also both apps have a driving detection feature that activates your phone sensors constantly when you are moving. Worth turning off if you do not need crash detection. That alone can save you 10 to 15% on a long day 