Road Trip Planning Made Easy with Google Maps Sharing Feature – Learn the Simple Steps!

Using Google Maps to share your real-time location with others is a great feature, but it’s understandable if you don’t want to let someone see your every move 24/7. Did you know you could temporarily share your phone’s location during a vacation road trip or other travel?

Apple’s location sharing and Find My are well-known at this point, and Google offers something similar on Google Maps that works with Android , iPhone , or iPad . However, during setup, most people choose to share their location indefinitely or select the option to share “until you turn this off,” which isn’t ideal.

Thankfully, Google Maps has a nifty feature where you can temporarily share navigation progress and location data with friends or family. Once the drive ends, location sharing ends. Here’s how to use it:

Fire up Google Maps for an upcoming road trip or while heading to someone’s house. Choose a destination, then hit “Start” navigation. While navigation is running, swipe up from the bottom of the screen and tap “Share Trip Progress” to get started.

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You’ll see a row of icons showing some of your most frequent contacts. Choose or search for the name you’d like to share your location with, tap the person’s icon, and hit the blue “Share” button. The screen will briefly say, “Sharing your location until you arrive.” Once you reach the destination, navigation and location sharing will both end.

Depending on the contact selected, that person will receive a text or email with a link to Google Maps, which will then start giving them complete location data of your road trip. Additionally, if you’d like to stop sharing or select the wrong person, swipe up from the Maps navigation screen and hit “Stop Sharing.”

Note: While sharing, the person will see your route, destination, arrival time, and how you’re traveling. They’ll also see your device’s current location, battery power, and if it’s charging.

It’s that easy! As long as you’re actively using Google Maps navigation, you can quickly share your location with someone. Use this helpful feature for summer road trips, friends and family to see when you’ll arrive during the holidays, and more.

Other Ways to Share Your Location on Google Maps

Not only is this feature great for privacy, but it’s one of several useful Google Maps features to know about . Others include the option to share your location in a text message , zoom out with a single finger , or Android owners can share their location with iPhone users . Google Maps works great in tunnels now, and you can even use Maps to save and find a parked car .

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