Hey Reader! 👋
For this tutorial, I’m going to show you how to share your location and estimated time of arrival (ETA) when meeting up with friends at events.
😖 The issue
It can be frustrating to find someone when you're meeting at a concert, dinner party, or sporting event. When you share your location and ETA, you'll know exactly where they are and when they are expected to arrive.
Unfortunately, most of us think it requires creepy and confusing apps to share your location.
That’s not the case here.
- You don’t need to download any additional apps or create new passwords.
- You don’t have to share your location with someone forever.
- You don’t have to rely on a back-and-forth series of text messages and phone calls.
- You don’t have to keep the app open to know when someone arrives at the destination.
Apple provides an easy and secure way to share your location and get notifications on someone’s ETA.
Here’s how:
👇 Give it a try
1/ Share your current location with Messages
- Open the Messages app and start a new conversation.
- Tap the Plus button (+), then tap Location.
- Tap the Map Pin button, tap Send Pin, then send your message.
When you drop a pin, you’re only sharing that current location. The person you shared your location with will NOT be able to see your location as you move around.
This is useful when you’re meeting someone at a restaurant where you’re not moving around.
2/ Share your ongoing location using Find My
- Open the Find My app.
- Tap the Me tab and turn on Share My Location.
- Tap the People tab, then tap the Plus button (+), then tap Share My Location.
- Type the person’s name for whom you want to share your location and tap Send.
- You can choose to share your location for an hour, until end of the day, or indefinitely.
When you share your live location, the people you share with can see the direction you’re traveling and how fast you’re moving.
This is useful if you’re going on a road trip and want to keep tabs on where other cars in your party are.
3/ Share your estimated time of arrival (ETA) in Maps
- Open the Maps app on your iPhone.
- Search for the place you want to go.
- Tap the route card at the bottom of the screen, then tap Share ETA.
- Choose a person or tap Open Contacts to find one.
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Do any of the following:
- Stop sending ETA updates: Tap Sharing with at the bottom of the screen, then tap Stop Sharing ETA below each person’s name.
- Share with more contacts: Tap Sharing with at the bottom of the screen, then tap additional people.
This is helpful when you’re meeting friends at a sporting event or festival and you want to keep track of when each person is expected to arrive.
🎁 BONUS
Here are a few bonus tis that are helpful when sharing your location with someone.
Share location-based notifications
Location-based notifications tell you if someone has left or arrived at a location.
- Open the Find My app and select the People tab.
- Select the person you want to share notifications with.
- Scroll down and under Notifications, tap Add.
- Tap Notify Me to get notified when another person’s location changes. Tap Notify Friend to notify a friend when your location changes.
- Under When, select Arrives, Leaves, or Is Not At. If you’re sharing changes to your location, select I Arrive or I Leave.
- Under Location, tap to select your current location, or tap New Location to select a different location.
- Under Frequency, select Only Once or Every Time.
This eliminates the need to keep your iPhone unlocked with the app open for extended periods of time.
Stop sharing your location
In each of the scenarios above, it’s just as easy to stop sharing your location.
You can stop sharing your location with a person in the Find My app. The person you stop sharing with won’t be notified.
- Open the Find My app.
- Select the People tab.
- Choose the person you want to stop sharing your location with.
- Scroll down and tap Stop Sharing My Location.
Here’s a video showing How to Use Find My on iPhone (3:40)
✨ One more thing
Now you know 3 ways to share your location and ETA. You can avoid back-and-forth messages and calls to ask when others are arriving to an event.
Tell me something, what’s one thing I could help you with in regards to using your Apple tech smarter or creating focus on what’s important to you.
Click reply and let me know. I read all my email.
Until next time, see ya! 👋