How to share location on iPhone (Messages, Find My and Maps)

Sharing your location is useful when you are meeting someone, driving a child home or just letting family know you are safe. The iPhone gives you three ways to do it, and each suits a different job. You stay in control the whole time, because you can stop sharing at any moment. The steps below use the current iOS menus, and older versions may look a little different.

How to share location on iPhone: which way should you use?

• Messages: quick, for one person, with a time limit.
• Find My: ongoing sharing with family or close friends.
• Maps: send your arrival time while you drive or walk somewhere.

Messages, Find My or Maps: the differences

Messages sharing is best for a short, one-person job, such as a first meeting or a pickup. It has a time limit, and it ends by itself. Find My is for the people you trust every day, such as a partner or a child, since it keeps updating until you stop it. Maps ETA sharing sends your route progress and arrival time, and it stops when you arrive, so it needs no cleanup. If you only want to send a place, not your own position, drop a pin and send that instead. A pin never moves and does not follow you.

Turn on Location Services first

None of these work if Location Services is off. Open Settings › Privacy & Security › Location Services and turn it on. Scroll down to Share My Location and check that it is on, and open Find My and Messages in the same list. Choose While Using the App for each, and turn on Precise Location for Find My so friends see your exact spot, not a wide area. If you see a grey Location Services switch, a Screen Time restriction may be blocking it, which you can change in Settings › Screen Time › Content & Privacy Restrictions › Location Services.

Share a pin or a place, not your own position

In Apple Maps, tap and hold a spot to drop a pin, or search for a place, then tap Share and choose Messages or Mail. The person gets a link they can open in Maps. In Messages you can also tap the plus button, choose Location and send your current spot as a single pin by tapping Send Pin. This works well for a parking spot or a meeting point, and it does not reveal where you go next. Pins are a good choice when you want to be exact but not tracked.

Share your location with an Android user

Find My does not work with Android. Open Google Maps on your iPhone, tap your profile picture, then Location sharing, and choose Share location. Pick a person or a link, then choose how long. The person opens the link in a browser or in Google Maps on any phone. Google Maps needs location access set to Always for full tracking in the background. If you only need a one-time pin, send it from Apple Maps by text. For the reverse direction, see sharing location from Android to iPhone.

Share location in other apps, such as WhatsApp and Google Maps

Other apps have their own sharing. In WhatsApp, open a chat, tap the plus button, choose Location and pick Share Live Location for 15 minutes, 1 hour or 8 hours. In Google Maps, tap your profile picture, choose Location sharing and pick the person. These need location permission set in Settings › Privacy & Security › Location Services, and they run on their own timers, separate from Find My. Check each app when you want to stop, since turning off Find My does not stop WhatsApp or Google Maps.

Share with family and children

If you use Family Sharing, location sharing can be turned on for everyone in the group from Find My, so it is easy to see where a child is on the way home. Talk with your child first, explain what is shared and agree on when it is on. You can also get a notification when someone leaves or arrives at a place. In Find My, tap a person, choose Notify Me and set an arrival or departure alert. Remember that sharing works only when the child’s phone is on and online.

Privacy and safety: who can see you

Share only with people you trust, and check the list now and then. Open Find My › People and review who is there. Remove anyone you no longer want to share with. Remember that Indefinitely means until you turn it off, and the person can see where you go all day. If you are in an unsafe situation, Apple’s Safety Check in Settings › Privacy & Security › Safety Check lets you review and stop sharing with everyone in one step. You will also see a dot or an arrow on the screen when an app uses your location, and our guide to privacy indicators on iPhone explains them.

Check who can see you right now

It is easy to forget a share you set up months ago. Open Find My, tap People and look at the list. Each name there can see your location. Tap a name to see whether the sharing is timed or open-ended. In Messages, a location share shows as a small map at the top of the conversation, and you can tap it to stop. Review the list every few months, especially after a change in your job, a move or a break-up. It takes a minute and keeps your location with the people you meant to tell.

Save battery while sharing

Sharing a location for a short time uses little power, but ongoing sharing with maps open can drain a battery quickly. Use time limits when you can, close Maps when you arrive and avoid Low Power Mode if you need fresh updates, since it slows them. If your battery drains much faster than it used to, it may be aging, and checking the health of the battery in Settings tells you whether a replacement would help. Compare the repair price against a trade-in or upgrade before deciding.

If the shared location is wrong or stuck

A pin that is old or in the wrong place usually means the other phone is off, offline or has location limited. Check Share My Location, This Device as My Location, Precise Location and Low Power Mode, and ask them to restart. Full steps are in the guide to a location that will not update. If you are looking for a lost phone, use Find My › Devices, and read about what to do when your iPhone is missing.