Location sharing
Also known as: live location sharing, real-time location sharing
Location sharing is a phone feature that lets chosen people see your real-time or recent location on a map, through apps such as Apple's Find My, Google Maps, Life360, WhatsApp, and Snapchat's Snap Map.
Families use it for safety, to coordinate pickups, or to check that someone got home. It can be shared temporarily or indefinitely. While location sharing provides reassurance, it can also be abused for controlling or stalking someone, so it's important to review who can see your location regularly.
Location sharing, explained at three levels
At home
Location sharing is like letting a friend watch a dot that follows you on a map. Your phone works out where it is using satellites, Wi-Fi and cell towers, then an app sends that position to the people you choose. They see your dot on their own map, either for a set time, such as one drive home, or until you turn sharing off.
At work
Location sharing is a phone feature that lets chosen people or systems see a device's real-time location. Businesses use it to dispatch field staff and protect lone workers, such as technicians on remote sites. Because location data is personal information that reveals home addresses and routines, employers need a clear purpose, informed consent, limits on when tracking happens and a written policy.
At home
Your phone works out where it is using GPS satellites, nearby Wi-Fi networks and cell towers, then shares that position through an app with people you choose. Apps such as Find My or Google Maps send updates to their servers regularly, and approved friends or family see your position on their own maps. Sharing can be temporary, such as for an hour, or ongoing until you turn it off, and some apps send alerts when you arrive at or leave a place.
At work
Field service and lone-worker apps track location for dispatch, routing and safety, often only during shifts. Location data is personal information, and continuous tracking reveals sensitive patterns such as home addresses, medical visits and religious practice. Canadian privacy regulators expect monitoring to have a clear, reasonable purpose and to collect no more than needed. Policies should define when tracking happens, who sees it, how long data is kept and how employees are informed.
At home
Location sharing set up during a relationship often continues after it ends, sometimes without the person remembering. An ex-partner may still see where you are, and shared family accounts or shared devices can reveal it too. Apple's Safety Check can review and stop sharing with everyone in one step, and Android offers similar privacy checkups. In my view, Safety Check is a valuable tool for exactly that moment, and worth using right away.
At work
Limit tracking to work hours and work purposes, obtain informed consent and provide clear notice, minimize retention and access, and secure location data like other personal information. Ontario requires employers with 25 or more employees to have a written electronic monitoring policy, and federal and provincial privacy laws apply. Allow staff to turn tracking off outside working hours on personal devices, and audit who views location data.
Real-world examples
At home
Lena shares her location with her parents when driving home late from university. They get a notification when she arrives.
At work
Jerome's Sudbury MSP set up a lone-worker safety app for a client's field technicians, tracking location only during shifts with staff consent.
Common confusions
- Location sharing is always visible to the person being tracked. — Many apps show sharing status, but people may forget they turned it on or not notice. Regular reviews matter.
- Turning off location services stops all tracking. — Wi-Fi, cell towers, and IP addresses can still reveal approximate location to some apps and networks.
For analysts
If a project involves employee location tracking, I'd involve HR and privacy advisors early. Consent and transparency make or break acceptance.
History & origin
GPS became widely available to civilians after the US stopped degrading its accuracy in 2000, and smartphones made location tracking everyday technology. Apple launched Find My Friends in 2011, Google added real-time location sharing to Maps in 2017, and Snapchat introduced Snap Map the same year. Family-focused apps such as Life360 grew popular, and in 2021 reports revealed Life360 had sold users' location data to data brokers, after which it said it would stop. Phone makers added safety tools such as Apple's Safety Check in 2022, which quickly stops sharing with others. In my view, location sharing works best as a conversation between people, not a surveillance tool.