Mother, daughter say smartphone app saved teen's life

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- A teen is lucky to be alive after a car crash left her stranded in the woods.

Her mother was the one that found her. It wouldn't have been possible without the help of one smartphone app.

17-year-old Maci Smith still can't believe she survived.

"I just hydroplaned, and I went between two tires and I flipped over and I rolled three times," she said.

Pinned under her car, she waited seven hours for someone to find her. Maci had missed curfew and wasn't answering her texts.

Her mother, Catrina Alexander, said the lack of response was out of character for her.

Through the Find My Friends app, her mother noticed she had been in the same location for far too long. She got in the car and went to her rescue.

"I can't explain watching the GPS on my phone," Alexander said. "My dot for my phone getting close to hers...and then suddenly seeing the tire tracks. That's all I could see."

EMS removed Maci from her car and took her to the hospital. She won't have any feeling in her left arm for a while, but she knows it could have been much worse.

She and her mother hope other parents will learn from their experience and download the app that saved her life.

"We want to encourage other parents and families to take advantage of the technology that we have," Maci's mother said.

It's important to note that both you and the other person need to agree to have your phones share locations for the app to work. 

You can find more information about the app for Apple customers here, and Android users here.