Easy Steps: How to track your family and friends with a smartphone

Many of us are hyperaware of the multitude of ways we can be tracked with modern technology, so you may feel like you don’t need to add another to the mix. But knowing the whereabouts of trusted friends and family can be useful a lot of the time, and it’s something you can do from your Android phone.

It’s worth saying at the start that you stay in control of who can see you and when — and you can stop location sharing at any time if someone in your life goes from being trusted to distrusted.

I’ve used this many times to figure out where to meet someone or to check when guests are going to arrive so I know exactly how much time I’ve got left to tidy up. It can be helpful for parents, too, to know their kids are safe and where they’re supposed to be.

Location sharing via Google Maps

The most obvious choice for location sharing on Android is Google Maps, as it comes preinstalled (and is available on iPhones, too). There are other options you can try as well, which I’ll get to.

Location sharing can be a one-way or two-way arrangement, so you can see other people without them seeing you if you want (and if they permit it). If you do want to make your location visible, you need to enable location tracking on your phone: from Settings in Android, tap Location, then enable the Use location option.

You can choose how long your location is shared for.