How to Share Your Location with iPhone

How to Share Your Location with iPhone.

Location sharing eliminates the need to give complex directions when meeting up with friends, colleagues, and family members. If you’re using an iPhone, there are several methods you can use to share your location with Apple users and others.

Read on to find out the best way to share your location on iPhone.

Share Location Using Find My App

If you want to share your real-time location with another iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Apple Watch, or Mac user, your best bet is to use the Find My app built into iOS and iPadOS. If your iPhone is still running iOS 12 or earlier, use the Find My Friends app

1. Open the Find My app.

2. Go to the “People” tab and select “Start sharing location”.

3. Enter the email address or phone number of the person you want to share your location with and click Send.

4. Decide how long you want to share your location – “One hour”, “Send before the end of the day”, or “Send unlimited”.

5. Click OK.

The other person will receive a notification that they can tap to view your Find My location. They will also receive a popup with the ability to quickly share their location with you.

You can stop sharing your location whenever you want. Just open the Find My app again, tap the person’s name in the People section, and select “Don’t share location”.

Share Location Using Messages App

The Messages app offers another convenient way to share your location with other Apple users.

1. Open the Messages app on iPhone.

2. Open an iMessage conversation with the person you want to share your location with, or create a new text message thread. Then tap the person’s profile picture at the top of the screen.

3. Tap Share Location and choose Share for One Hour, Share Until End of Day, or Share Indefinitely.

Advice. Click “Submit my current location” to send a snapshot of your current location only.

The other person can then tap your profile picture in an iMessage conversation on their side to see your location as a blue dot on the minimap. They can also rotate the map and get directions through Apple Maps.

Want to stop sharing your location? Just repeat the steps above and click “Disable Location Sharing”.

Share Location With Family Members

Your iPhone makes it even easier to share your location with other iCloud family members. For this:

1. Open the Settings app and tap Apple ID > Find Myself.

2. Click on a family member’s name in the “Family” section.

3. Click Share Location.

The family member can then view your location using the Find My and Messages apps. If you don’t want them to see your location, go to Settings and repeat the steps above, but tap on “Prevent Location Sharing” in step 3.

Share Location Using Contacts App

You can also start sharing your location through the Contacts app on iPhone.

1. Open the Contacts app.

2. Tap the other iPhone user’s contact card.

3. Tap Share Location and choose whether you want to share your location for one hour, the rest of the day, or indefinitely.

Your location will then be shown in the other person’s Find My and Messages apps. You can go to the same screen as above and click “Stop sharing location” if you want to stop sharing your location.

Share Location Using Apple Maps

If you use Apple Maps, you can quickly share your current location as a link with other Apple users.

1. Open Apple Maps on your iOS device.

2. Pull down the menu at the bottom of the screen and tap Share Location.

3. Select a tool to share the location, such as Messages or Mail, as a link.

The person can then click on the link to view your current location in Apple Maps. They can also choose to get directions to coordinates.

Share Location Using Apple Watch

Do you use an Apple Watch? Just use the Find People app to start sharing your location with other Apple users. If you’re using watchOS 5 or earlier, you must use the Find My Friends app to share your location.

1. Press the Digital Crown on your Apple Watch and open the Find People app.

2. Click Share Location.

3. Enter the email address or phone number of the person you want to share your location with.

4. Decide whether to share your location for one hour, the rest of the day, or indefinitely.

5. Click OK.

The other person can then view your location in the Find My and Messages apps. If you want to stop sharing your location, tap the person’s name in the Find People app and select “Turn off location sharing”.

Share Location Using Google Maps

If you want to share your location with an Android user, your best bet is to use Google Maps. If you don’t have Google Maps, download them from the App Store and sign in with your Google account before you start.

1. Open Google Maps and tap your profile picture in the top right corner of the screen.

2. Click “Transfer Location”.

3. Click New Sharing.

4. Decide how long you want to share your location – for example, 1 hour or unlimited time.

5. Select the person you want to share your location with from your contact list and click Share.

The other person will receive an email with a link they can click to view your location on Google Maps. Alternatively, they can open the Google Maps app and your location will be displayed on a world map.

You can always stop sharing your location by going to the Sharing location screen in Google Maps and clicking “Stop” below the person’s name.

Share Location Using WhatsApp

WhatsApp Messenger, the popular cross-platform messaging app for iPhone and Android, offers another convenient way to share your location with Android users. Download WhatsApp from the App Store and set it up with your phone number if you don’t have one on your iPhone.

1. Open WhatsApp and select the Chats tab.

2. Click on the conversation thread with the person you want to share, or create a new thread.

3. Tap the Plus icon at the bottom left of the screen and select Location.

4. Click Share Current Location.

5. Choose a duration – 15 minutes, 1 hour, etc. – and click Submit.

Note. If you only want to share a snapshot of your current location, click Share Current Location.

The other person can then open a conversation thread with you and click View Live Location to view your location. Similarly, you can click Stop Sharing if you want to stop sharing your location before the time expires.

Start Sharing Your Location

Sharing your location is useful not only during meetings, but also in potentially life-threatening situations. However, unrestricted sharing of location data can violate your privacy, so it’s always best to restrict access to information when using the above methods.