Keep track of your family members and friends’ locations at all times by enabling continuous location sharing between iPhone and Android phone.
My wife and I have iPhones, and we’ve enabled Find My location sharing, which allows us to see each other’s locations at all times. As a result, I don’t have to call or text her to ask if she has reached her office; I can just see it in Find My.
I wanted to set up a similar thing with my dad, but he has an Android phone. Then, one day out of the blue, I came across the location sharing feature in Google Maps, which works across platforms and allows me to achieve the same function as Apple’s Find My. It’s easy to set up and works reliably. Of course, this also works to share location continuously between two iPhones and two Android phones.
We’ll start by sharing iPhone’s continuous location with an Android phone, and then share the Android phone’s constant location with iPhone.
1) Open the iPhone Settings app and go to Privacy & Security > Location Services. Select Google Maps from the list of applications and set it to access your location at all times by tapping ‘Always.’
2) Launch the Google Maps app on iPhone and sign in with your Google/Gmail account if you haven’t already. Then, tap the profile picture icon at the top, followed by Location Sharing and the Share Location button.
3) Tap the “For 1 hour” drop-down button and select “Until you turn this off.”
4) Tap the More button, which is on the right of your contact suggestions.
5) Now type the Gmail address of your family member or friend with an Android phone, tap it, and hit the Share button. Your iPhone is now sharing its location with that Android phone user at all times.
How will the Android user see iPhone’s location
After you follow the above steps, the person with Android phone can see your (iPhone) location whenever they like, by following these steps:
1) Open Maps or Google’s dedicated Find Hub app on Android phone.
2) In Google Maps, tap the profile picture icon, select Location Sharing, and tap the person’s name. It will display the iPhone’s location, how far away it is, the battery status, and when this location was last updated. Tap the three dots icon and hit Refresh to fetch the updated location.
3) In the Find Hub app, go to the People tab, and select the person to see their current location.
You can share an Android phone’s location with an iPhone via Google Maps, following the same steps we’ve mentioned above. Additionally, you can use the Find Hub app to share the location, which is a cleaner, dedicated app for this job, powered by the same Google Maps under the hood.
1) Open the Find Hub app on your Android phone, make sure you’re signed in with your Google account, and go to the People tab.
Note: If the iPhone user is already sharing their location with you, just tap their name, followed by the Share Your Location button, and select Until you turn this off.
2) If the iPhone user isn’t sharing their location with you, tap the plus button (+), and set ‘For one hour’ to ‘Until you turn this off.’
3) After that, tap the Search button.
4) Type the Gmail address of the iPhone user, select the person from under the Suggestions, and tap OK. Finally, tap Share.
How will the iPhone user see Android phone’s location
The iPhone user will go to Google Maps on their device, tap the profile picture, select Location Sharing, and then tap the Android phone user’s name to see their location, battery percentage, and other details. If the location is outdated, tap the three-dot menu icon and select Refresh.
Get notifications when the person leaves or arrives at a location
Just like Apple’s Find My, Google Maps also lets you get an alert when a family member or friend you’re sharing your location with arrives at a place or leaves one.
1) Go to Google Maps, tap the profile picture, pick Location Sharing, and then select the person.
2) Tap the Add button with a tiny bell icon next to Notifications.
3) Tap Add Location, search for the location, and select it.
4) Then, turn on the switches for ‘Every time they arrive or leave’ in the ‘Get notified’ section, and finally hit Save.
Add location sharing to the Home Screen
The iOS version of the Google Maps app doesn’t yet support adding people widgets to the Home Screen or Lock Screen. However, the Android version allows you to add a small app-like icon to the Home Screen, which enables you to view that person’s location with a tap.
Just touch and hold your Android phone’s Home Screen, tap Widgets, select Maps, and add the Friend’s Location widget. Then, choose a person who is sharing their location with you.
Some tips to keep in mind for accurate location
Sharing location via Google Maps works best when:
- Wi-Fi or mobile data is working properly.
- The Maps app can access phone location at all times.
- Background App Refresh on iPhone is active for Google Maps.
- Any extreme battery-saving options are disabled on Android phone.
- And most importantly, the location feature is enabled on the phone. My mom accidentally turned off the location feature on her Android phone from the Quick Settings menu, and I couldn’t see her new location in Google Maps on my iPhone.
Will you be turning it on for your family members and close friends? Remember that you can also use this tip to track a lost phone and know its whereabouts!