What Is Location Sharing and How to Manage It
Location sharing allows others to see your current or recent position via your device or app. You can control location sharing settings for privacy or convenience. Hide Expert VPN helps protect your location data by encrypting traffic and masking your IP address.
What location sharing means
Location sharing is when your phone, app, or service shares your current or recent whereabouts with someone else or another service. This could be with friends in messaging apps, family in location-tracking services, or apps that need your location for functionality (like weather or maps). The details shared depend on the app and your settings – it could be your exact spot on a map, city, or just a general area.
How location sharing works on phones and apps
- GPS and network data: Your device uses GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and mobile networks to detect your location.
- Permissions: Apps request permission to access your location. You can allow this always, only when using the app, or never.
- Sharing methods: Some apps let you share your live location with selected contacts for a set time (e.g., 15 minutes, 1 hour), while others show your location whenever you’re online.
- System features: Both Android and iOS let you share your location through system features (like Google Location Sharing or Apple’s Find My).
- Third-party services: Some apps and services, like ride-sharing or delivery apps, require temporary location sharing to work.
For more detail on how location and tracking work, see our guide on how to understand and manage phone tracking.
Why people share or stop sharing their location
- Reasons to share:
- Safety (letting family or friends know where you are)
- Coordinating meetups or travel
- Using location-based services (maps, weather, delivery)
- Tracking lost devices
- Reasons to stop sharing:
- Privacy concerns
- Battery saving
- Not wanting to be tracked by certain people or apps
- Changing relationships or circumstances
How to turn off or pause location sharing
- On iOS:
- Go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services.
- Switch off Location Services entirely or manage per-app permissions.
- For Find My, open Find My > Me, and turn off Share My Location.
- On Android:
- Go to Settings > Location.
- Turn off Use location for all apps or manage app-specific permissions.
- For Google sharing, open Google Maps > Your profile > Location sharing and stop sharing with specific contacts.
- In apps:
- Look for location settings in the app’s privacy or account section.
- Pause sharing or remove people from your sharing list.
- For web-based sharing:
- Check your browser’s location permissions and clear site data if needed.
- To mask your location online:
- Use a VPN like Hide Expert VPN to change your visible IP address, which hides your real network location from websites and services.
- This does not change GPS-based sharing, but it can prevent web services from seeing your real location.
Privacy concerns related to location sharing
- Unintended sharing: Some apps keep sharing your location in the background or share with more people than you expect.
- Data storage: Shared location data can be stored by service providers, sometimes for long periods.
- Tracking risks: Location history can be pieced together to track your movements over time.
- Third-party access: Advertisers and analytics companies may access or buy location data from apps.
- Security: Sharing real-time location can expose you to risks if the data is accessed by someone with bad intentions.
To reduce risks, regularly review app permissions, delete old location data if possible, and limit sharing to trusted contacts only. If you’re concerned about your IP-based location online, a VPN adds another layer by hiding your network address but does not affect GPS-based sharing in apps.