How to Track Your Friends Location on Android

Co-authored by wikiHow Staff

Last Updated: April 12, 2019 Tested

This wikiHow teaches you how to send a link to a contact in order to share your real-time location in Google Maps, and view a contact's shared location, using Android.

Part 1

Part 1 of 2:
Sending Your Location

1
Open Google Maps on your Android. The Maps app looks like a tiny map icon with a red location pin on it. You can find it on your Apps menu.
2
Tap the ☰ icon on the top-left. You can find this button next to the search field in the upper-left corner of your screen. It will open your navigation menu.

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3
Tap Location sharing on the menu. This option will allow you to share your real-time location with live updates.
4
Select a duration for sharing your location. Your location updates will automatically stop after the selected duration ends.
- Use the "+" and "-" buttons to increase or decrease your sharing duration.
- Alternatively, select Until you turn this off here if you want to keep location sharing on until you manually turn it off from the app.
5
Select how you want to send your location. You can send it via text message, email, or a chatting or social media app like Messenger, WhatsApp, or Twitter.
- Tap More here to see all your options.
6
Select a contact to share your location with. Most apps will prompt you to select a person from your contacts list to share your location.
- If you're sending an email, you may have to enter your contact's email address manually.
7
Send your location. Your contact will be able to open the link you've sent, and track your real-time location on a map for the selected duration.

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Part 2

Part 2 of 2:
Viewing a Shared Location

1
Open the app where your contact sent the location link. Your contact can share their location via text message, email, social media, or a chatting app.
2
Tap the message, chat, or email with the location link. This should open the conversation or the message thread.
3
Find and tap your contact's location link. This will switch you to the Google Maps app, and display your contact's real-time location on a map.
4
Find the blue dot on the map. Your contact's location is marked by a blue dot on the map.
- The dot will move with real-time updates if your contact is moving.
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