How to share your location in Google Maps

How to share your location in Google Maps
How to share your location in Google Maps (Image credit: Harish Jonnalagadda / Android Central)

Google Maps offers a comprehensive location-sharing feature that makes it easy for you to share your location with your loved ones. You also have the option of broadcasting your location via a dedicated link, set the duration for location sharing, and select contacts that you want to share the details with. Here's how you can get started with location sharing on Google Maps.

How to share your location in Google Maps

  1. Open Google Maps from the app drawer or the home screen.
  2. Tap the hamburger menu (the three horizontal lines) on the top left corner of the screen.
  3. Select Location sharing.

Source: Android Central (Image credit: Source: Android Central)
  1. Tap Share location.
  2. Provide Maps access to your contacts by hitting Allow.
  3. Select the duration until which you want to share your location. Toggle to Until you turn this off if you want to share your location for a lengthy duration.

Source: Android Central (Image credit: Source: Android Central)
  1. Select a contact that you want to share your location with. If a particular contact isn't listed yet, then choose an app from the list at the bottom of the page to share a link with your location.
  2. Hit Share to start sharing your location.
  3. You'll now see a message at the bottom of the screen that you are sharing your location with that selected contact.
  4. To stop sharing your location, all you need to do is tap the menu at the bottom and select Stop.

Source: Android Central (Image credit: Source: Android Central)

Maps also lets you broadcast your location in real-time via a dedicated link. Let's see how to set it up.

  1. Tap the hamburger menu (the three horizontal lines) on the top left corner of the screen.
  2. Select Location sharing.
  3. Choose Sharing via link.

Source: Android Central (Image credit: Source: Android Central)
  1. Tap Copy link.
  2. Hit the person icon at the top right corner.
  3. Choose the app through which you want to share the unique URL that broadcast your current location.

Source: Android Central (Image credit: Source: Android Central)

With this option, you'll be able to email the link, and send it via WhatsApp, Signal, Twitter, or any messaging platform of your choice. As is the case with sharing your location with a contact, you get to set a time limit until which your real-time location will be broadcast.

In addition to broadcasting your location, you'll be able to share your progress while using Maps' turn-by-turn navigation. The location-sharing feature leverages your phone's GPS signal and continues to broadcast your location until you manually turn it off or the time limit runs out. Location sharing is accurate up to 10 meters, and any time you need to broadcast your location to friends or family members, know that it is as straightforward as it can get in Google Maps.

Be sure to check out our roundup of the best Google Maps tips and tricks for more ways to get the most out of your favorite navigation app.

Harish Jonnalagadda
Senior Editor - Asia

Harish Jonnalagadda is a Senior Editor overseeing Asia at Android Central. He leads the site's coverage of Chinese phone brands, contributing to reviews, features, and buying guides. He also writes about storage servers, audio products, and the semiconductor industry. Contact him on Twitter at @chunkynerd.