In addition to being a good chat app, WhatsApp can also present itself as a valid tool to quickly share the position we are in, without having to open the map apps every time and find out our position. In fact, the WhatsApp app provides, among its options, the possibility of sharing the position in real time .
If this thing may seem obvious and trivial, perhaps we do not fully know the potential of WhatsApp: with this app we can also make sure that the friend (or group of friends) with whom you share the position can follow our movements in real time, seeing us move on its map; you can therefore use WhatsApp as a GPS locator to know where a person is at all times (obviously there must be his consent, do not expect to use it as a tool to spy on people or to stalk someone).
In this guide we will show you how to quickly share your location on WhatsApp and, through the appropriate function, how to allow friends and relatives to follow our movements on the map in real time.
READ ALSO -> Share location in Google Maps, in real time
1) Preliminary operations
In order to take full advantage of the position sharing system on WhatsApp, we must first activate the location feature on our smartphone, trying to activate the most precise system possible on our device (i.e. take advantage of the GPS and data network for positioning ).
On Android, simply open the Settings menu -> Location (we can find this less also as Geo-location, Positioning or GPS, depending on the smartphone model in use) and activate the High precision mode, which is usually the one that allows you to get the most accurate information when an app asks for location access.
After checking the location system of the phone, make sure that the WhatsApp app has all the necessary permissions to access the GPS and the entire system to locate the phone; to do this we will have to open the Settings menu -> App and check, by clicking on WhatsApp, the Permissions menu (the path and the name of the menu can also change considerably between one version and another of Android or between phones of different manufacturers) .
If instead we use an iPhone, we can activate localization by opening the Settings app, going to the Privacy menu and clicking on the Localization item, where we will only have to check if the item is active.
In this case the permissions are directly visible in the Localization menu.
If WhatsApp is already present in the Share section, we won't have to do anything else; if it is missing, it is better to open the app directly and use the location sharing procedure to activate it (a confirmation request may appear on the screen).
2) How to share the location on WhatsApp
To use the location sharing function in WhatsApp, all we have to do is open a chat with the person or group on which we want to share the location, touch the paperclip icon (those that also allows you to send photos and files), and choose the Position item.
If we had not yet given permission to access the location system, we will be asked at this precise moment (we confirm every confirmation message that will appear on the screen).
Immediately afterwards we will see a new window appear, in which we will be shown a part of the map (with some points of interest nearby) and two very important buttons: Real-time position and Send your current position .
Using the Location button in real time, the interlocutor of the chat or the group will be able to see where we are at any time, following our path on the map (very useful both for monitoring and for showing friends where we are and where we are going).
By activating the monitoring we can choose how long to share the location, if an hour, 15 minutes or 8 hours and add a comment if you want (to give further indication in chat or in a group about our intentions or to indicate where we are going ).
If, on the other hand, we only wanted to send the coordinates of the position where we are at that moment, without activating the monitoring, just click on Send your current position .
The latter option is really very convenient to be able to communicate to friends the place where we are, for example a new bar or a house to be reached all together, without having to enter the address or coordinates by hand each time.
On the chat of the recipient or the group, the map will appear with our photo of the reduced profile which is used as a position indicator.
By touching the map, large Google Maps (or other navigation app, such as Waze) will open to be able to precisely follow where we are, in real time; if we have decided to activate continuous monitoring, all our movements with various dots will appear on the map, so as to faithfully reconstruct the path that we have done and that we are doing at that time.
Who shares the position, can stop the sharing by pressing the writing on the chat or by going to Settings> Account> Privacy to find the option of the current position and disable it; in this section you can find all the chats in which we are sharing the position in order to manually stop it before the end, so you always have maximum control over what we share in chats and groups.
Finally, we remind you that sharing in real time can also be done using other applications to find and "stalk" with friends or family, including Google Maps and Facebook Messenger.
