Instantly Share Your Current Location from Messages on iPhone

If you’ve ever tried to give directions to someone when you aren’t that good at it, or maybe aren’t entirely sure where you are let alone how to get there, you know how frustrating of an experience that can be. Fortunately you can avoid that situation entirely now though thanks to a great location sharing feature on the iPhone, which lets you send your current location on a map immediately to someone else. The recipient can then route directions exactly to your location, or at least locate you on a map and know where you and your iPhone are located.

How to Send Current Location from Messages App on the iPhone

This feature works best on the iPhone thanks to the devices built-in GPS unit, though it will also work on an iPad and iPod touch, though it uses a rougher estimation through wi-fi instead.

1. From the Messages app, tap into any active conversation where you’d like to share your current location
2. Tap on the “Details” button in the upper corner



3. Scroll down and look under the “LOCATION” section, selecting “Send My Current Location”
4. Give Messages app approval to retrieve your location data
5. Wait a moment as your current location is applied to a map and sent to the recipient

Note that in this screenshot example, the map hasn’t finished loading, but when you actually send a location this way the map will appear loaded in the messages app with a pin noting the location and/or address.

On the receiving end, a user with iMessages and iOS 8.0 or newer will instantly see a map with the location, which can then be tapped onto for further options, like getting directions to that location. If the recipient has another version of iOS or Android, a standard link to open your location in a maps application for will be available instead.

This is one of those features that really comes in handy once you remember that it’s there, whether you’re trying to give someone directions to an unfamiliar location, or even just want to share with someone where you are currently located. You can even use this to send a location to yourself as a way of marking a location on a map that you may need in the future, like finding your parked car in a large lot or an unfamiliar city, though the map pinning trick works well for that too.

For users who are not on a modern version of iOS, you can also send a current location through another Maps application like from Apple Maps or Google Maps, and those coordinates can be sent through messages or email. Nonetheless, this is much faster if you’re already in the Messages app.

It’s also worth mentioning that Mac users can share location in a similar manner from the Maps app, and you can also share any location pinpointed on a map that way, right from OS X.

Source : osxdaily[dot]com