To reassure loved ones or help them find us, Google Maps allows us to share our position in real time. The duration of the option is programmable, which avoids any risk of tracking.
We can share our position, our location on Google Maps for different reasons: to inform loved ones that we are safe, to indicate to someone who should join us our exact location, etc. What is practical is that the American giant’s navigation application allows the user to remain in control of the situation. In other words: you decide who should see your location, and for how long. Clubic shows you how it all works.
Location sharing on Google Maps, step by step
To share your position in real time on Google Maps, everything is done quite quickly, especially on a smartphone, which you use in the vast majority of cases for this, and if you are connected to your Google account.
- From Maps, tap the icon at the top right, the one with your profile photo.
- Next, tap “Location Sharing”. There, Google asks you to confirm. Tap on the “Share my location” button.
Here, Google Maps presents you with several options, which you can configure as you wish.
- You can choose the duration for sharing your location: it can range from 15 minutes to 24 hours, or “until deactivation” of the option. If, for example, you are going on vacation for several days to a remote or even dangerous area, the option is really useful.
- Google suggests, just below, contacts from your list in the broad sense, which you can select as you wish, for sharing contacts. Just one may be enough, but you can choose several.
- If you don’t want to do it directly through the contact, you can share your location in other ways: by SMS, Messenger, Telegram, Gmail, Discord and many others.
To stop sharing, simply follow the exact same path as you started, and tap on the profile of the person you no longer want to share location with, then select “Stop”.
The 5 things you need to know to properly share your location via Google Maps
First, know that not all users can share their location the way they want. Users under 18 can do so, but within 24 hours. If the account in question is managed by a parent or legal representative, they can share their location via the Family Linky application.
If the person you’re sharing your location with doesn’t have a Google account, no problem. The sharing link can be copied to the clipboard, which can then be inserted in an SMS, by email or via any instant messaging application.
Location sharing only works, and quite logically, if you have selected the “Always allow” option in Google Maps access permissions, for the “Location” functionality. You can always restrict access after location sharing has been stopped.
To make it even easier to notify people with whom you share a location, it is possible to activate notifications, “every time the person arrives” or “every time the person leaves”. These notifications can then be deactivated at any time.
Finally, if you use iOS and your contact does not have a Google account, you can still follow the same process, but sharing the location via iMessage, or still from any other application.