Your iPhone provides you with the means to share your location with a contact, such as a friend or family member.
This can be a beneficial option for a parent that wants to be able to check up on their child or when a group is traveling together and wants to be able to find someone who gets lost.
But you need to activate this feature to use it, which we will discuss in our tutorial below.
You can share your location on an iPhone by opening Messages, choosing the conversation, tapping the contact name, selecting Share My Location, and choosing a time period.
- Open the Messages app.
- Choose the conversation.
- Tap the contact name.
- Select Share My Location.
- Choose a duration.
Our guide continues below with additional information on how to share location on iPhone 13, including pictures of these steps.
The Messages app on your iPhone has a lot of options for sharing content with other people.
You can send links to Web pages, share contact information, text images, and videos, and do even more if that person also has an Apple device.
One sharing feature that you might not be using also lets you share your location with a contact. this gives them the ability to check your current location whenever they want.
This feature can be turned on and off as needed, and it can be accomplished from within a text message or iMessage conversation.
Related: Our messages sent as text message guide can show you why some of your messages are sent as green bubbles instead of blue ones.
The steps in this article were performed on an iPhone 13 in the iOS 16 operating system.
Step 1: Tap the Messages icon to open the app.
Step 2: Choose the message conversation with the person with whom you want to share your location.
Step 3: Tap the contact name at the top of the screen.
Step 4: Select the Share My Location option.
There is also a Share Current Location option here as well, which you could do if you want to send them a pin with your current location rather than giving them continuous access to your location.
Step 5: Choose the length of time for which you wish to share your location.
You can pick from the following options:
- Share for One Hour
- Share Until End of Day
- Share Indefinitely
Now that you know how to share location on iPhone 13, you will be able to use this as an alternative to sending an address or trying to describe your location to someone.
How to Enable Location Services on an iPhone
Note that you are going to need to have Location Services enabled on your iPhone if you want to be able to take advantage of this feature.
You can enable Locaton Services on your iPhone with the following steps.
Step 1: Open the Settings app.
Step 2: Scroll down and choose Privacy & Security.
Step 3: Tap Location Services at the top of the screen.
Step 4: Touch the button next to Location Services to turn it on or off.
You can also scroll down and select the Messages option, then make sure that you have chosen one of the options on that screen other than “Never.”
How to Send Your Location from the iPhone Contacts List
If you don’t have a text message conversation going on with someone, or you would rather do this another way, then you can also send your location through your contact list.
Step 1: Open the Phone app.
Step 2: Choose the Contacts tab at the bottom of the screen.
Step 3: Select the contact.
Step 4: Scroll down and choose Share My Location.
Step 5: Select one of the sharing duration options.
Note that you can also do this from the Contacts app. If you can’t find the Contacts app, then you can use the Search option on the Home screen, or you may be able to find it in the Extras folder on your second Home screen.
More Information on iPhone Contact Sharing
When you are choosing the Share My Location option from the message conversation, there is also an option to Send My Current Location.
This might be preferable if you want to send someone a pin to let them know where you are currently, but you don’t want them to be able to continually see your location as you move. This option is similar to sending someone an address instead of allowing them to track you as you move.
Your map and navigation apps also have ways that you can share your location with another person.
In Google Maps, you can send your location to someone by opening the app, tapping the blue dot that indicates your current location, then choosing Share your location. You can then specify the amount of time for which you want to share your location, then select the contacts to receive this information, and tap Share.
In Apple Maps, you can share your location by opening the Maps app and touching your blue dot. Select the Share My Location option, choose an app to use to send that information, then select the contact.
When you were in the Location Services menu in one of the earlier sections of this article, you may have noticed that there was a menu option for Share My Location there.
If you choose that item, it will open a new menu where you can adjust the “Find My iPhone” setting, toggle the “Share My Location” setting on or off, as well as view all of your contacts who can currently see your location.
Matthew Burleigh has been writing tech tutorials since 2008. His writing has appeared on dozens of different websites and been read over 50 million times.
After receiving his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Computer Science he spent several years working in IT management for small businesses. However, he now works full time writing content online and creating websites.
His main writing topics include iPhones, Microsoft Office, Google Apps, Android, and Photoshop, but he has also written about many other tech topics as well.
