All posts by Alan Morgan

Sharing your location via Whatsapp

I’ve used Whatsapp for many years but have only recently looked into using the ‘location’ facility and on speaking with various folks it seems that many do not know about this very handy utility.

It seems to me that cyclists in particular could use this facility to great advantage when out and about, either solo or group riding. So here is a quick guide for Android smartphone users (with a supplementary note for Apple iPhones at the end).

Assuming the smartphone has GPS/Location Services enabled and Whatsapp is installed and mobile data is switched on...

Step 1

Open Whatsapp and under the CHATS tab, select a user to create a message in the normal way.

Step 2

In the message box area select the ‘paperclip’ icon and from the displayed options, select ‘location’.

Step 3

The next screen allows the option to ‘Send your current location’ or ‘Share live location’

Step 4

Assuming you select ‘Share live location’ you then have the option to share for either 15 mins, 1 hour or 8 hours. Plus the option to include a message in the ‘Add comment’ box.

Step 5

Send the message in the normal way – the sent message appears in the sent messages area which includes a ‘Stop sharing’ option if you which to terminate the share prematurely.

The recipient on receiving the message can on opening and clicking the Google map, see your current location updated at various intervals (but not if in Step 4 you selected ‘Send your current location’ which is just your location at the time of sending the message).

Note for Apple users

With the exception of Step 3, the procedure is I understand, broadly the same as for Android users. In Step 3 you will not see a ‘paperclip’ but instead hit the ‘+’ symbol to display the options.