How to share your location on an iPhone

While smartphone privacy concerns can be legitimate, there are definitely times when it’s worth sharing your location — for example, because a family member has gone missing, or you want your partner to know you’re safe during a long journey . Here’s how to share your location on an iPhone in a variety of ways.

See also: How to set up, use and remove iPhone restrictions

Before you even try to share your location, you need to make sure that location services are running. This is the iPhone backend that manages GPS and other forms of wireless location. Some people turn it off entirely for maximum privacy, but of course you can’t share where you are if there’s no location data to send.

To check if location services are active:

• Open the Settings app.
• Scroll down a bit, tap privacyand then location services.
• Assure yourself location services is on.
• Check similar options below share my location. Even if you don’t want to use Apple’s Find My app, you should have Share My Location enabled.

Back in the main Location Services menu, you might want to scroll through App Permissions and make sure relevant apps are set to both while using or Always. Luckily, apps often ask for the necessary access themselves when they don’t have it.

The Messages app is the most natural place to share your location. You probably already trust all of the named contacts you speak to, and there’s not much search for options. If you just want to share a one-time ping, just start a message with “I’m here” and select Current location from the suggestion bar.

If you want to share continuous location data with other Apple users, it’s just a few more steps.

• Open a message conversation with the person you want to share your location with.
• Tap their profile icon at the top of the screen.
• Beat share my location.
• You get three options: Share for an hour, Share by the end of the dayor Share unlimited. Choose one of the first two options unless you are comfortable with the person knowing your habits 24/7.
• Whichever option you choose, you can go back to someone’s profile and type Stop sharing my location stop tracking immediately.

Apple Maps might be preferable if it’s your primary navigation app. Note, however, that you can only share your location directly from your iPhone, not through a vehicle’s CarPlay interface.

The process is simple:

• Then tap and hold the map icon Send my location. If you’re already in Maps, just tap blue dotthen Split.
• In any case, you will see the iOS share sheet. Select an app or frequent contact to share with.
• Follow the prompts to send a link or otherwise initiate sharing.

This option is virtually identical to the (non-typed) one in Messages, for one logical reason — when you open a person’s Messages profile, you’re really looking at their contact page. But if you want to skip messages:

• Open the Contacts app.
• Select the person you are looking for.
• Beat share my location.
• As with messages, you will be prompted to choose between Share for an hour, Share by the end of the dayor Share unlimited.

There are too many options to write a comprehensive list, but if it’s a big navigation or messaging app, there’s probably some sort of location-sharing feature. The biggest alternatives are Google Maps and WhatsApp – check our guides for detailed instructions. You should use one of these by default when sharing with Android users, as Apple’s continuous tracking only works on devices with Apple Maps. Otherwise only a static position can be sent.