Guardian Readers Debate Location-Tracking Apps and Weather Forecasts in Letters

In a Guardian letters column published on 18 September 2026, readers responded to two earlier pieces: Adrian Chiles's 16 September article on location-tracking apps and a 11 September letter from Margaret Squires about conflicting weather forecasts. Colin Dryland of London described a reversal of Chiles's situation, explaining that he installed a phone-tracking app on his wife's phone so she could monitor him while he walks alone in Islington, which he says makes him feel safer. The arrangement fails, he wrote, when he calls his wife to ask if she knows his whereabouts; she tells him she does not care, declines to check the app, and hangs up. Dryland suggested she could offer coaching to Chiles. A second letter writer responded to Squires's frustration over clashing forecasts across weather apps by admitting to an unscientific method: repeatedly checking every weather app on his phone until one predicts the conditions he wants, which he said leaves him heading out with unjustified confidence in the outlook. The letters were published under the heading 'The tracks of my tears: my wife doesn't care about my location', with subheadings referencing tracking apps, weather forecasts, Parthenon puddles and tautologies.