In this iOS 8 tip, we’ll show you how to track a friend or family member’s active location using the new “Share My Location” feature. This feature is not just showing a point in time (current location), it is sharing your active location and it updates as you move from place to place. If you have a friend, family member or co-working sharing their location with you, as they walk down a street will show you their location on the map as they move.
This feature is useful in a variety of scenarios. Perhaps you are on vacation and want to give your teenage child some independence but you would like keep up with their location for security reasons. Maybe they want to go down a different street in NYC and do some shopping while you are at a restaurant. With this new feature, you can see exactly where they are. You won’t get lost or separated from each other.
For Halloween, maybe the older kids are moving a little quicker and want to go trick or treat a few streets away with some friends. With this feature you can see exactly where they are as they trick-or-treat through the neighborhood. I will be using this feature with my kids!
How to use “Share My Location” feature
Getting started: You must have iOS 8 installed on your phone (you do not have to have iPhone 6 model) to share your active location. The person you are sharing your active location with does not have to have iOS 8 on their Phone.
The person sharing their location will need to turn on “Share My Location” feature. For example: To have the active location of your children, you will turn on “Share My Location” on their iPhone.
To share your active location with a friend, family member or co-worker:
- Go to Messages app
- Tap a Message you have received from your friend, family member or co-worker with whom you want to share your location
- Tap Details (in the upper right hand corner)
- Tap “Share My Location”
- Tap the desired option: “Share for One Hour”, “Share Until End of Day”, “Share Indefinitely”
The person you are sharing you location with will receive a text message with a map of your location and a dot indicating your location on that map. The dot will move as you travel from place to place and will update to the person’s phone with whom you are sharing your location.
Any time that person wants to see where you are are, they can just go to their Messages app and look at your location. Tapping Details within Messages provides a larger view of the map for your friend or family member.
To stop sharing your active location with a friend, family member or co-worker:
- Go to Messages app
- Tap on a Message you have received from the person in which you are sharing your location
- Tap Details (in the upper right hand corner)
- Tap “Share My Location”
- Tap “Stop Sharing My Location”
A few notes
- This feature will use battery life as it is constantly updating.
- This feature may use data from your data plan if you are not on a Wi-Fi network. Data rates may apply.
More iOS 8 Tips & Tricks
- Predictive Text: iPhone Tip: Predictive Text. How to turn it on, off, hide it, reveal it.
- Keyboard Shortcuts – iPhone Tip: Creating Keyboard Shortcuts on your iPhone for faster typing. Customizing Predictive Text
- Control Panel – iPhone Tips: What is the iPhone Control Panel? How do I access it? What do all the buttons mean?
- Siri – iOS 8 New Features: Siri Trick, How to activate Siri without touching your phone.
- eMail Tip – iOS – How to save mail messages to Drafts folder
- eMail Tip – iOS 8 Tips & Tricks: Multitasking between multiple draft email messages
- eMail Tip – iOS 8 Tips & Tricks: How To Multitask in Mail with Draft Messages
- Location Sharing – iOS 8 Tips and Tricks: Share a friend or family member’s active location.
- Apple Pay – What is Apple Pay? Why use it? How do I use Apple Pay?
Tech Tango Today 