Question Looking for a Good Location Sharing App with Low Battery Use

[Ryche]

Hi all,

Just curious if anyone has experiences with location sharing apps. I'm looking for one that gives recent (but not necessarily real time) updates but that doesn't hog/drain the battery. Friends had suggested Life360, but on our phones (Galaxy S9, Galaxy A52), Life360 eats up battery the way a food eating champ goes through hot dogs at a contest....

Basically, my wife is a teacher in a rough area, and she doesn't always call/text when she's working late, so I'm looking for a way to check in without actually bugging her.

Thanks in advance!

 

[mustang7757]

I think Google messages shares location

 

[rvbfan]

I does but you have to actively do it as it's a one off thing not continuous.

 

[B. Diddy]

I haven't used it myself, so I can't speak to the battery usage, but have you tried Google Maps Location Sharing? https://support.google.com/maps/answer/7326816?hl=en&co=GENIE.Platform=Android

 

[Ryche]

Edit - Updated Title to "Looking for..."

I have looked at Google Location Sharing, but if I'm understanding it right, it appears that the person whose location you want to know has to actively share the link. Maybe I misunderstood how it worked. I was more looking for something where I could pull up a map, and the user would display. That isn't the impression I got from Google.

Pity all these Location Sharing/Tracking apps can't do an "on demand" GPS ping - for example - set the permissions for "only when in use", then user A opens the app to find where User B is. The system sends a message to User B's phone, which enables a momentary GPS Location ping, and the location is returned. Thus you get a live location without burning through battery... ah well, it is nice to dream... If I knew more about programming, I'd try to do it myself...

 

[B. Diddy]

Edit - Updated Title to "Looking for..."

I have looked at Google Location Sharing, but if I'm understanding it right, it appears that the person whose location you want to know has to actively share the link. Maybe I misunderstood how it worked. I was more looking for something where I could pull up a map, and the user would display. That isn't the impression I got from Google.

Pity all these Location Sharing/Tracking apps can't do an "on demand" GPS ping - for example - set the permissions for "only when in use", then user A opens the app to find where User B is. The system sends a message to User B's phone, which enables a momentary GPS Location ping, and the location is returned. Thus you get a live location without burning through battery... ah well, it is nice to dream... If I knew more about programming, I'd try to do it myself...

I don't use Location Sharing, but my understanding is that the other person just has to turn their Location Sharing on and select you as a person to share with. They can choose how long they want to share for, if they want, but default is to share until the user turns it off. You can then select that person from your location sharing menu and see where they are in Google Maps. There's no link they have to share, as far as I know.

 

[Mr. Lucky]

I also have a need for this but go about it a different way. I use an automation app, MacroDroid. I have a macro that sends my location via SMS to the requestor (see screenshot, below). When an incoming text containing the secret word, "WHERERU" (case sensitive) is received, it responds by first updating my phone's location in real-time, then sending my exact latitude/longtitude via return SMS. It then speaks "Location sent" so I know it happened. When the recipient receives the lat/long SMS link, tapping it will open the mapping program on their phone and show exact location. Everything is completely configurable. I have it sent to respond to any contact but you could have it respond to only specific contacts, or any number (even non-contacts). Of course, you can set any secret trigger word of your choosing. There are a number of Share Location methods available and you can use more than one. You can use any notification method on the location sender's phone (e.g., flash the screen, send a copy of the location message to yourself etc., or do nothing at all).

It uses next to no battery since it operates like the old DOS tsr's (terminate & stay ready programs). I have it on my phone so my wife can know my location on one of my motorcycle day trips without interrupting me. In your case, you'd want to install this on your wife's phone.