Location tracking is one of the most important things our smartphones allow us to do today, whether in terms of surveillance, security, or any other reason. And WhatsApp Live Location is one of the easiest and most popular ways to share your location with anyone. It’s not always absolutely accurate, but it’s close enough that this feature is useful for those who need to share their location for whatever reason. WhatsApp is also used by over 400 million users in the country, which means that whoever you want to contact has probably already downloaded the app.
What is Live Location in WhatsApp?
WhatsApp’s Live Location feature allows users to share their current location with any of their contacts. It also updates constantly as your location changes, meaning people will be able to track where you are when needed. The app gives you the option to choose between sharing location for 15 minutes, 1 hour or 8 hours at a time, covering different types of trips.
This feature can be very useful, especially for security purposes, or if you need to keep someone updated on your ETA (Estimated Time of Arrival). With this feature, women riding in taxis late at night can inform their family members of their location. Real-time tracking on apps like Uber doesn’t work as well as Live Location on WhatsApp.
How to share your current location with your WhatsApp contacts
WhatsApp allows you to share your location in two ways. The first is the real-time location feature mentioned above, and the second is just sharing your location once. Here’s how to share your current location.
- Open WhatsApp and navigate to the contact you want to share with.
- On Android, tap the Share button that appears in the text field where you enter your chats.
- On iPhone, tap the + icon next to the text box, then tap More.
- Then select the “Location”option.
- If you haven’t given WhatsApp access to the location, the app will ask for this permission at this point. If you only share a location once, you can only grant access to it once. However, in order to share your current location, you will need to change the location permission to Always.
- Click on the location option and you will be taken to the location screen.
- There are two options here – “Submit your current location”and “Share your current location”.
- Tap the Share Current Location option and choose how long you want to share it.
How to stop sharing your current location
Now imagine that you shared your location for 8 hours, but reached your destination earlier. Then you can stop sharing the location. Here’s how to stop sharing your current location on WhatsApp.
- Open the private chat where you shared your location.
- Touch the field in the chat with the map image.
- Then tap the “stop sharing”option.
- If you have shared your location in multiple chats or groups, you can simply click on the three-dot menu in the top right corner of the home screen and choose not to share your location in real time.
How long does Live Location last on WhatsApp?
How long you share your current location is up to you, but WhatsApp has a few preset options to choose from. You can share your location for 15 minutes, one hour, or 8 consecutive hours. Sharing your current location also means the app will log your location all the time, so both privacy and battery are impacted.
We recommend that you don’t share your current location when your battery is low because it can drain your battery pretty quickly. When you share your real-time location, WhatsApp will access your location even if your phone screen is off and the app is only running in the background.