Parents are using smartphones to track their college-aged kids

They’re diving into adulthood — with their parents watching.

When the use of smartphone location trailing features and apps gained major popularity several years ago, parents were quick to co-opt the technology to keep a watchful eye on their little ones. But now, scores of worried moms and dads are taking their tracking a step further, and monitoring their college-aged kids.

While some deem the practice a breach of trust, parents such as Mickie Nagel — who tracks her four kids ages 17, 19, 21 and 22 — says it’s not helicopter parenting, it’s just about safety and convenience.

“When someone isn’t responding to phone calls, or not texting back, it’s reassuring that we can check where they are,” says Nagel, 55, of Cold Spring Harbor, LI. “It puts us at ease.”

Over the last five years, experts say more parents have started to switch on trailing services — via apps such as Find My Friends, Glympse and Google Maps — in high school, college and beyond.

“It’s extremely common with my clients,” says Emma K. Viglucci, a Midtown marriage and family therapist. “Everybody’s tracking everybody anyway, so why should parents be excluded?”

Nagel and her husband made the tracking rule mandatory for their kids in 2016 because “it was getting difficult to keep track of everyone,” she says. Besides, she adds, their kids were getting older, going to more parties and sometimes forgetting to return texts.

“If they wanted us to pay for their data and phones, then they had to be sharing locations,” says Nagel, who intends to keep an eye on her kids’ whereabouts until her youngest is through college.

At first, the decree didn’t go over well.

“Some of them were like, ‘Why do you guys want to stalk me?’ ” Nagel says. “There was definitely some hesitation.”

But after explaining the benefits, such as safety and the convenience of knowing where to pick them up, the kids agreed to give it a try.

“I actually thought it was a really good idea when they first brought it up,” says daughter Gabrielle, 21, a senior at Washington University in St. Louis.

Nagel often uses the feature to make sure Gabrielle and her older brother (who just graduated from college) safely make it to and from their universities.

“There were times where I was like, ‘Oh, I can’t get a hold of them, where are they?’ And I’ll check,” says Nagel. “It’s safer than calling, or texting while they’re driving.”

The mother does have boundaries though. “I don’t check if they’re in class, or anything like that,” she says. “That’s not my business.”

Viglucci agrees that if parents do choose to track their kids, parameters — like only checking when absolutely necessary and no micromanaging — are key.

“When it becomes, ‘Why are you eating at Chipotle and McDonald’s again?’ That’s not OK,” she says. “You have to give them freedom so they can fend for themselves.”

She adds, ” It can definitely be overused, and used in the wrong ways.” She thinks parents should stop tracking their kids at 21: By then, “kids should have proven they are responsible and can be on their own.”

In the past, there were a few hiccups with Nagel’s younger kids. In one instance, her 17-year-old son went “off the radar” while he was on a secret date at the movies on a Friday night.

“He completely turned off his phone when he was supposed to come home after school,” says Gabrielle. “He really wanted to go on the date, but didn’t think my parents would say, ‘Yes.’ ”

Nagel’s husband ended up tracking his car’s location instead. “Then he lost privileges,” says Nagel.

Her 19-year-old daughter once switched it off to head to a party, even though she claimed to be at a friend’s.

“It’s usually during a party that the location will be turned off,” says the mom.

Though the word “tracking” may sound “dirty” and “creepy,” says Viglucci, it’s in fact, quite the opposite.

“It’s not about being controlling, it’s about using it to be connected and properly support the children,” she says. “It’s just today’s norm.”