GPS services are not just available on your iPhone for navigation reasons. Amongst other uses, you can also use it to update your friends or family with your location. That way they can find out if you're nearby or on your way to meet them.

If you're hunting for ways to share your location on iPhone, we've got your back. In this article, we'll share the different ways you can share your iPhone location.

Setting Up Location Sharing on iPhone

Before delving into the different ways to share your location, you have to enable location services. Here's how you can do that on your iPhone:

  1. Launch the Settings app.
  2. Go to Privacy.
  3. Select Location Services.
  4. Tap the slider to the On position to enable Location Services. If the slider is green, Location Services are on.

Related: How to Track and Locate Your iPhone Using Location Services

You Can Share Your Location From Various iPhone Apps

You can share your location on your iPhone in a variety of ways. Even without exploring third-party solutions, iOS natively provides different ways to send your location from your iPhone. In this article, we'll give you a variety of options that you can use.

How to Share Location on iPhone via iMessage

iMessage has a built-in feature for sharing your location. Here's how you can use the feature:

  1. Open Messages and tap a conversation with the person you wish to share your location with. You can also create a new conversation by tapping the compose icon in the upper right and entering a number or selecting one of your contacts.
  2. Tap the contact's name or icon at the top of the screen.
  3. Select Info.
  4. From here, you can choose to Send My Current Location or Share My Location. Share My Location is appropriate if you want to share for a certain amount of time—an hour, until the end of the day, or indefinitely. Select Send My Current Location if you only want to share the current location.
  5. Next, you might be prompted to grant iMessage access to your location—tap Allow Once or Allow While Using App.
  6. Your location will be shared instantly.

How to Share Location on iPhone via Contacts

To skip all the trouble of starting a new message conversation in iMessage, you can share your location directly via the Contacts app. Here's how:

  1. Open the Contacts app.
  2. Select a contact that you want to share your location with.
  3. Choose Share My Location and select the duration—an hour, until the end of the day or indefinitely.

How to Share Location on iPhone via Find My

Find My might be the most obvious app to use if you want to share your location from your iPhone. Here's how to do it:

  1. Launch Find My on your iPhone.
  2. If you haven't granted location access, you'll be prompted to Allow "Find My" to use your location—grant the app location access to continue.
  3. Tap Start Sharing Location.
  4. Select a contact to share your location with and tap the Send button.

Related: What Is "Find My" App in iOS? Everything You Need to Know

How to Share Location on iPhone via Apple Maps

Apple's navigation app, Apple Maps, can also be of aid if you want to share your location. To share your location via Apple Maps, follow these steps:

  1. Launch Apple Maps.
  2. Select the blue dot, which is your current location. If the blue dot doesn't appear, tap the arrow in the upper right, which will place your current location at the center of the screen.
  3. Tap Share My Location from the popup menu.
  4. Select an app to use to share your location.
  5. If the app you want to use doesn't show up in the share sheet menu, tap Copy to copy the link and send the link via your preferred app.

How to Share Location on iPhone via Google Maps

If you prefer Google Maps over Apple's built-in alternative, follow these steps instead:

  1. Launch Google Maps and grant the app access to your location.
  2. Tap the blue icon indicating your location.
  3. Next, select Share your location.
  4. Select the amount of time your real-time location should be shared, choosing from 15 minutes up to three days. Use the plus and minus buttons to adjust the period.
  5. If you want to share your location for a longer period, tap Until you turn this off.
  6. Select a contact to share your location with. You can select from the suggested options or tap More > OK > OK to give Google Maps access to your device contacts. If you select a contact connected to a Google Account, you can choose to share via email or Google Maps—tap the downward-facing arrow and select Send via Google Maps. For those not linked to a Google Account, Google Maps will share the link via messages.
  7. Select a contact to share your location with, then tap Share in the upper right.

Download: Google Maps for iOS (Free)

Related: How to Use Family Sharing to Monitor Your Child's iPhone

How to Share Location on iPhone via WhatsApp

On your iPhone, you can send your location via WhatsApp in different ways. The first and the simplest method is by using WhatsApp's built-in functionality. Here's what you need to do:

  1. Open WhatsApp.
  2. Choose a contact you want to share your location with.
  3. Tap the plus button near the text box.
  4. Select Location.
  5. Allow WhatsApp to use your location.
  6. Tap Send Your Current Location or select some of the suggested nearby places. WhatsApp will share your location instantly.
  7. To share your live location, choose Share Live Location instead. Next, tap OK.
  8. Tap Settings > Location and select Always to grant WhatsApp access to your location in the background (if prompted).
  9. Select the amount of time your live location should be shared (15 minutes, 1 hour, or 8 hours) and press the Send button.
  10. If you want to stop location sharing at any time before the specified period is over, open the chat and tap Stop Sharing > Stop Sharing.

Alternatively, you can share your location via WhatsApp by using Apple Maps and selecting WhatsApp from the share menu.

Sharing Your Location on an iPhone Is Easy

There are different methods of sharing your location on an iPhone. Native options use Apple Maps, but you can use Google Maps if you prefer. With many options to choose from, we're certain you won't have an issue the next time you want to update your loved ones on your whereabouts.

You should also know how to turn off location services if need be.