Should Our Family Share Our Location With One Another, and How?

Keeping track of the kids or grandparents can ease your mind, but don’t let it strain relationships

Edward C. Baig,

AARP

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Published January 20, 2026

photos of people inside location sharing icons popping out of a smartphone screen

AARP (Getty Images, 6)

AARP members and readers are invited to submit technology questions they’d like me to tackle in my Tech Guru column, including issues around devices, security, social media and how all the puzzle pieces fit together. Almost all our readers are concerned about personal safety, and many are also concerned about privacy, which provides the backdrop for the following question.

I admit it, I’m one of those people. I want to know where my kids are pretty much all the time, and the same goes for my own aging parents. Should something happen, I’d like them to know where I am as well. Can you explain how we, as a family, can share our location without straining our relationships and compromising everyone’s privacy?

I understand your desire to ensure that your loved ones are safe and sound, just as you want them to know that you’re where you should be and are OK. Sadly, emergencies happen.

But I also recognize the sensitive nature surrounding trust and privacy, and how everyone’s boundaries ought to be respected.

I wouldn’t be so presumptuous as to express what I think is right for your family, but for what it is worth, I do share my location with my wife and kids, and they in turn share theirs with me.

From a technical perspective, it is easy to share your location with friends and family using your phone without either of you having to ask each time. And if you are uncomfortable with being tracked, even by close family, you can just as easily prevent members of your clan from knowing where you are.

The Android approach varies

On Android handsets, you can share your real-time location with selected family members (or other people in your circle) through various Google apps and services, most notably Google Maps, as well as Find Hub, Family Link and the Personal Safety app.

Google says that location settings are device- and account-specific, which simply means that if you’re logged into your Google account on more than one device, you’ll need to adjust the settings according to your preferences in each app. 

Since all Android phones differ to a degree, I’ll use the Google Pixel as a proxy for the platform.

Tap Settings | Location and ensure the Use location switch is on. Next, tap Location services | Google Location Sharing and tap anyone on your list of people in order to share your location with them. I’ll note that if you’re already sharing with someone on the list and change your mind about them, you can tap their name here to stop sharing.

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Now visit the apps you want to share your location with, and follow the specific instructions within each app. In the Find Hub app, tap the New share button, then choose the person or persons with whom you will share your location, as well as the duration. For instance, you can share your location for one hour, just for the day, until you turn the setting off, or for a custom period of your choosing.

In Google Maps, open the app and tap your profile image in the upper right corner of the screen. Next, tap Location sharing | Share location and the Allow button when Maps asks to access your contacts. Tap on names to select who among them can see your whereabouts. You can again choose how long to share your location with specific people.

Keep in mind that those you are sharing with are allowed to see your name and address, your phone’s recent location (even when you’re not currently using it or another Google service), and, if a Location sharing notification is added, your arrival and departure times. They’ll even see how much battery power your phone has and whether it is charging, useful to know if you’re almost out of juice and in a precarious situation.

Still, if any of this bothers you, you may decide not to share your location with certain people, be they family members or anyone else.

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iPhone also provides various ways to share your location

Sharing your whereabouts on an iPhone can usually be done through the Find My, Messenger, Apple Maps and Google Maps apps. (Apple doesn’t reciprocate with the Google crowd since there’s no version of Apple Maps for Android.)

First things first. Go to Settings, scroll down to Privacy & Security | Location Services and enable Share My Location.

From the list that appears, consider the apps and services in which you will share your whereabouts, which you can do all the time, never or just when you are using those apps. Or you can select the option where you are asked each time.

One app you’ll often share your location with family is Find My. Open the app (if not already open) and tap the People tab, followed by the + sign. Next, tap Share My Location and enter the name of a contact. You can choose to share your location for an hour, until the end of the day or indefinitely.

I’ll also focus here on sharing your location with members of your clan through the aptly named iCloud feature known as Family Sharing. The feature, which is free, limits the number of people in your family unit to six: yourself and up to five others.

While the focus here is on using Family Sharing to track everyone’s location, I’ll briefly mention other Family Sharing benefits you may want to take advantage of. You can share your Apple Music, Apple TV+, iCloud+ and other subscriptions, and you’re also able to hide certain purchases made through those services to keep them private.

If you have younger family members, you can implement parental controls and “Ask to Buy” restrictions.

To set up Family Sharing, launch Settings, tap your name at the top, then select Family. As mentioned, you can invite up to six family members, including yourself as the family organizer. If you haven’t reached the limit yet, you can add people later by tapping the Add Member icon at the upper right.

Tap Location Sharing and toggle the switch next to each person in the family you want to enable to see your location. Or tap Automatically Share Location so that you’ll know where any new family member who joins later — such as an older parent or a grandparent now living with you — is at any time.

Bonus tip: Share a precise location or an approximate location

Both Android and Apple include settings that allow you to pinpoint your precise location as opposed to your approximate whereabouts. Think about it this way: Approximate location is useful, say, for a weather app that reports the forecast for the general vicinity in which you live or work. But that app doesn’t need to know the specific street where you happen to be.

Precise location, on the other hand, is just that, and is what you will want to choose if you’re meeting up with a loved one or checking up on them. If you’re meeting someone in New York City, for example, knowing they’re in Manhattan isn’t enough; you need a more precise street address or landmark to know where to rendezvous.

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Edward C. Baig covers technology and other consumer topics. He previously worked for USA Today, BusinessWeek, U.S. News & World Report and Fortune, and is author of Macs for Dummies and coauthor of iPhone for Dummies and iPad for Dummies. Follow him on LinkedIn; Threads; and X, formerly known as Twitter.