Sharing your whereabouts with family
Let someone you trust see where you are while you travel, with you deciding exactly how much each person can see
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How sharing works
Sharing your whereabouts sends one person a private link. When they open it and accept, they can see what you chose to share with them and nothing else.
Where they see you is taken from the country stay you are currently in on your residency page, and from the accommodation recorded against it, so keeping those up to date is what keeps a share useful. Only live position sharing reads your position as it updates, and that is a separate choice covered in its own article.
Everything is off until you turn it on. There is no default share, no default level of detail, and nobody is added without being asked.
This is not an emergency service
Inviting someone
Set up a share
- Open your Whereabouts & Sharing (opens in a new tab) page
- Select Invite someone and choose the person from the contacts already on your account
- Choose how precisely they see your location: Country only, City, or Exact position. Nothing is chosen for you
- Under What they can see, choose whether they also see the city you are in, where you are staying, how to reach you, and your live position
- Enter the day sharing should stop, which is required, then select Send Invitation
They receive a link. Nothing is shown until they open it and accept, so a share only becomes active once both of you have agreed to it.
Choosing what each person sees
Each share carries its own settings, so different people can see different things. The options are:
- Location precision: the country you are in, the city, or your exact position
- The city I am in: the city of the place you are staying, falling back to the region on the stay itself. Without it they see the country only
- Where I am staying: the name and dates of the place you are staying now. It needs city or exact precision to appear at all, and the street address is included only at exact precision. Your booking reference is never sent
- How to reach me: the contact numbers on your profile, and the phone number of the place you are staying if you are sharing your accommodation too
- My live position: whether they see your current position as it updates, covered in its own article
Anything switched off is never sent
Stopping a share
You can end any share from the same page, at any time, without explanation. Select Stop sharing beside the person and confirm.
The link stops working straight away. Someone who had accepted is told that sharing has been paused; they are not shown your last known position or any other detail you had been sharing. Someone who had never accepted is told only that the link is no longer valid.
Shares end on their own
Every share needs an end date, which you enter when you invite someone. There is no default and a share can never be open-ended, so a share you set up for one journey does not quietly continue afterwards. The usual choice is the last day of your trip. Sharing runs to the end of the day you pick, and you can end a share sooner at any point.
Frequently asked questions
Does the person I share with need an account?
No. They open a private link and see only what you chose to share. There is nothing to install and no account to create.
Can they see anything before they accept?
No. Until they accept, the link shows only the invitation itself. Nothing about your location, accommodation or contact numbers is shown to someone who has not accepted, and someone who declines never sees it at all.
Can I share different detail with different people?
Yes, and that is the intended use. Every share carries its own settings, so one person can see your city and accommodation while another sees only the country you are in.
What happens when I revoke a share?
The link stops working immediately. Someone who had already accepted sees that sharing has been paused rather than any older information, and they are not shown a stale position. Someone who had never accepted simply finds that the link is no longer valid.
Do shares last forever?
No. Every share needs an end date, which you choose when you invite someone. There is no default and a share can never be open-ended. Sharing runs to the end of the day you pick, you can end one sooner at any time, and an expired link shows nothing.
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