Sharing the location in real time is one of the functions that is increasingly present in each view of a greater number of applications than those commonly used, which allows other people to know where we are at all times. This can be really useful to be able to reach a meeting with another person or to increase security if we are going to travel alone and we want to notify when we will arrive at the destination.
Sharing the location in real time has, therefore, a large number of advantages, although there are those who are detractors of this type of services, alluding to how it affects the privacy of those who use them. In any case, as long as you use it voluntarily and being perfectly aware of it, you can make use of it to share where you are at all times.
Advantages and disadvantages of real-time location
On many occasions it is very necessary to make use of sharing the location in real time, being very useful in this type of case:
- If you travel alone during a very long journey, since you will be able to tell your family or whoever you want that you are fine and they will not have to be calling or sending you messages to know if you have already arrived or not. If you are driving, it will allow you to indicate where you are at all times, following your location for hours without having to do anything. It is certainly a great option in this regard.
- For control childrenSince if your child is going to leave home or has to return, you will be able to know where he is at all times. In fact, this function is common in parental control applications and tools. However, it can also be activated in applications such as Google Maps or WhatsApp.
- For older people that may become disoriented or lost. If the elderly are going for a walk alone, you will be able to know where they are at all times. Very useful so that they are properly protected.
- Si vas a return at night and it worries you, one of the best options is to resort to share your location in real time, so that you can keep another person informed of your trip and you can be calmer.
- For someone else know how much you have left to get there. If you have an appointment with a person and you want them to know where you are going, through the location in real time you can inform them of how much you have left.
However, it has the disadvantage of loss of privacy. Therefore it must be used responsibly. However, many apps allow you to choose a certain time to share it and they will not do so without your consent.
How to share location in real time
Although there are some specific applications for this, there are other messaging apps that allow you to share your location in real time, such as WhatsApp or Google Maps, for example.
Share location in real time on WhatsApp
This is one of the best applications to be able to share location in real time, since the vast majority of people have it installed on their mobile phone and do not need anything else. It is fast and allows you to share the location with whoever you want in private conversations or WhatsApp groups.
The downside is that you cannot determine an exact time for the location to be shared, but rather it allows sharing for 15 minutes, 1 hour, or 8 hours. However, whenever you want you can choose to end it, you can cancel it and make the other person stop knowing where you are.
As long as you have it active, the contact you want will be able to see how your WhatsApp profile picture moves around the map in real time. This way you will know where you are at all times, at least until the set time passes or is manually canceled.
The way to do it is very simple since you just have to go to the icon of the attached clip, as you do when sending any photo or video, choosing the option Real-time location, so that it lets you choose the time and even add a comment if you wish.
Share location in real time on Google Maps
You can also use Google Maps to share the location in real time, having the advantage that you can enjoy greater precision than WhatsApp when choosing the specific time during which you want to share the location in real time.
In addition, it has the advantage that it makes it possible to share it in the application itself or in the chat you want. To do this, you just have to copy the corresponding link from Google Maps and send it through WhatsApp, email, SMS, or wherever you want. In this way, the people with whom you share it will be able to know where you are at all times, seeing it through the Google Maps map.
There are two time options to share the location in real time through Google Maps. These are for a set time that you have previously set, or until you manually decide to deactivate the option. In addition, as we have mentioned, you can share it through the application you want in a very comfortable and simple way.
To share your location in real time through Google Maps, you just have to open the application on your mobile and click on the icon of your image in the upper right corner. Then go down in the menu and scroll until you find the option Share location.
Once this is done, you must choose the time during which you want to share the location and mark the friends and contacts you want to send it to or select the application to open to send the link with which you can share your location.
In this simple way you can share your location with as many people as you want, either through WhatsApp or Google Maps, although other messaging services and other specific ones also offer this possibility.