How to Share Your Location on an iPhone or Android Phone (2026)

Sharing your location on a smartphone makes it easy to connect with family and friends or ensure safety in emergencies. This guide details the quickest and most secure ways to share your location on both iOS and Android.

Whether you are visiting a friend for the first time or meeting up with a family member in the city, a little navigational help might prove useful. Sometimes you want to go further than sharing a specific spot and need to share your position with someone for an extended period of time. Well, there are several easy ways to share your location using your smartphone. Here’s how.

Updated July 2026: I refreshed the steps outlined to ensure they work and added fresh screenshots to illustrate.

There is an advantage to Google tracking you through your phone: It’s easy to share your location with friends and family, especially since it’s the most popular mapping app in the world. There’s a simple method built into Google Maps, and it works on both Android and iOS devices.

Open the Google Maps app (Android, iOS).
Tap your profile picture or initials at the top right. Sign in to your Google account if you haven’t already.
Tap Location sharingandShare locationorNew share*.* - Select how long you want to share your location.
Choose the people you want to share your location with (you may have to give Google Maps access to your contacts here). You can share your location with anyone in your contacts, provided you have added their Gmail address. You can also share your location directly with specific apps.
If you want to share with someone who doesn’t have a Google account, scroll to the right on the bottom row of apps and tap Copy toand thenShareto get a link that you can paste into an email or message. On an iPhone, you can tapMore optionsto send the link via iMessage, a different app, or selectCopyto get a link.

You can review the list of people you are sharing your location with on that same Location sharing tab, and you will see their profile picture on the map if they are also sharing their location with you. To stop sharing or to get directions to their location, tap on the profile picture or their name listed at the bottom.

If you and the people you want to share your location with are using an iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch, then the Find My app is the easiest way to do it. Here’s how:

Open the Find My app and choose the Peopletab. - Tap on a person and scroll down to Share My Location. To add people, tap the plus icon and enter the name or number of the person you want to share your location with, tap the tick at the top right - Choose how long you want to share you location for: For One Hour,Until End of Day, orIndefinitely.

You can stop sharing your location on the same People tab by tapping on the relevant person and choosing Stop Sharing My Location. You can quickly stop sharing with everyone by selecting the Me tab and turning off Share My Location.

If you are already chatting to the person or group you want to send your location to in Facebook’s popular Messenger app, then you can share your location right there without exiting it. This works on Android and iOS.

Open Messenger and select the relevant conversation with the person or people you want to share your location with.
Tap the Optionsicon (plus) at the bottom left, then theLocationicon (arrow). - You may be prompted to grant the Messenger app location privileges.
Tap Start sharing live locationor if you’d rather share a static point, search for it in the search bar or tap the location pin at the bottom right and drag the map to place it where you want, then tapSend location. - When you choose to share your live location, it is shared for one hour, and you will see the option to Stop Sharingwith a countdown clock next to it.

If the person or people you want to share with use WhatsApp, it’s easy to share your location with them. This is available on both Android and iOS.

Open WhatsApp and select the Chatstab. - Choose the person or group you want to share with.
On an iPhone, tap the plus icon at the bottom left. On an Android phone, tap the paperclip icon at the bottom right.
Choose Location. You may have to tapContinueandAllowto give WhatsApp access to your location data. - Click Send Your Current Locationfor a snapshot of where you are now, orShare Live Locationto share your real-time position as you move around for the period you specify (from 15 minutes up to 8 hours).

How to Use Emergency SOS on an iPhone

Apple’s iPhone has a feature called Emergency SOS. When triggered, it sends a text message and shares your location with your emergency contacts.

Start by opening the Health app and tapping your profile picture, then Medical IDand scroll toEmergency Contactsand tapAddorEditthenAdd Emergency Contact.
To activate Emergency SOS, hold down the power button and one of the volume buttons, or if you’re using an iPhone 7 or older, rapidly press the power button five times.
Drag the Emergency SOS slider to call emergency services. This will also trigger the text message and location sharing with your emergency contacts.

It might be a good idea to try this when you set it up (and give your emergency contacts a heads-up) so you know exactly how it works.

The emergency options for sharing your location differ from manufacturer to manufacturer with Android phones, but you can usually hold down the power button to access emergency information or an emergency mode.

On most Android phones, including Google Pixel phones, you can:

Go to Settings,Location,Location Services, and make sure thatEmergency Location Serviceis toggled on. Where supported, this will share your location with emergency services when you call or text an emergency number.
Go to Settings,Safety and Emergency. You can addEmergency contactshere and configureEmergency SOS. You can toggle on the option toShare info with emergency contactsto share your real-time location when you trigger Emergency SOS.

Remember to check who you are sharing your location with every now and then. If you’re sharing your location regularly for safety reasons, you might want to read our guide to the Best Personal Safety Alarms.

Power up with unlimited access to WIRED*.*Get best-in-class reporting and exclusive subscriber content that's too important to ignore. Subscribe Today.

Source: Wired Robotics