How to Share Your Real-Time Location in Google Maps: A Complete Step-by-Step Guide
Sharing your live location through Google Maps has become an essential feature in today’s fast-moving world. Whether you are navigating a busy city, meeting friends at an unfamiliar place, or ensuring the safety of family members during travel, real-time location sharing offers peace of mind and convenience. Google Maps makes this process simple, secure, and accessible across both Android and iOS devices, allowing users to stay connected regardless of the phone they use.
With Google Maps’ built-in location-sharing feature, you can share your exact location, device status, and even battery information with selected contacts for a specific duration. This guide explains how real-time location sharing works, what information is visible to others, and how you can manage, hide, or stop sharing your location whenever needed.
What Information Is Shared When You Use Google Maps Location Sharing
When you share your live location using Google Maps, the person you share it with can access several useful details. These include:
-
Your name and profile photo
-
Your device’s most recent location, even if Google apps are not actively open
-
Your phone’s battery level and whether it is charging
-
Your arrival and departure time if they enable location-sharing notifications
Depending on how you choose to share your location, additional contextual details may also be visible. Importantly, this feature works even if your Google Maps Timeline is turned off, ensuring flexibility and privacy control.
How to Find Someone’s Location in Google Maps
If someone has shared their real-time location with you, you can easily view it on your map using a computer:
-
Open Google Maps on your computer.
-
Click on the Menu icon.
-
Select Location sharing.
-
Choose the person whose location you want to see.
Their live position will appear on the map, updating in real time.
How to Temporarily Hide Someone’s Location
If you prefer not to see someone’s shared location on your map for a while, Google Maps allows you to hide it without stopping sharing completely.
Steps to hide a location:
-
Open Google Maps on your computer.
-
Click Menu and go to Location sharing.
-
Select the person you want to hide.
-
Click Hide on map.
This option is useful when your map feels cluttered or you want a cleaner navigation view.
How to Show a Hidden Location Again
You can restore a hidden location anytime with just a few clicks:
-
Open Google Maps on your computer.
-
Go to Menu and then Location sharing.
-
Hover over the hidden icon next to the person’s name.
-
Click Show on map.
Their real-time location will immediately reappear on your map.
How to Stop Sharing Your Location in Google Maps
If you no longer want someone to track your live location, you can stop sharing it instantly:
-
Open your Location Sharing settings in Google Maps.
-
Find the person with whom you want to stop sharing.
-
Click Stop next to their name.
Once stopped, they will no longer have access to your real-time location or device information.
Final Thoughts
Google Maps’ real-time location-sharing feature is a powerful tool for safety, coordination, and convenience. It allows users to stay connected while maintaining full control over who can see their location and for how long. With easy options to hide, show, or stop sharing, users can adjust their privacy settings at any time. Understanding how to manage this feature ensures smoother journeys and greater peace of mind.
