How to share your location on WhatsApp

How to share your location on WhatsApp
(Image credit: Harish Jonnalagadda / Android Central)

WhatsApp has a location-sharing feature that makes it as easy as possible to share your current location with your friends or family. There are two options available — you can share your current location, or broadcast your location with select contacts for a set amount of time. Here's how to get started with sharing your location in WhatsApp.

How to share your location in WhatsApp

1. Open WhatsApp on your phone.

2. Select the contact you'd like to share your location with.

3. In the conversation window, hit the attach button. It's the paperclip icon next to the message field.

4. Tap Location.

(Image credit: Android Central)

5. Tap Continue and give WhatsApp access to your location according to your preferences.

6. Select Send your current location to easily share your location with your friends.

7. You can also share your location in real-time with your friends and family. Select Share live location to broadcast your location info.

(Image credit: Android Central)

8. Tap Continue.

9. Set the duration for broadcasting your live location. The options include 15 minutes, one hour, and eight hours.

10. Hit the send button to start sharing your location info in real-time.

Sharing with WhatsApp is easy

That's all there is to it. WhatsApp hooks into Google Maps for pulling up your location and the broadcast option, in particular, is handy if you're traveling by yourself and want to inform friends and family of your real-time location. In addition to location sharing, you can easily share media, documents, contacts, and so much more from within WhatsApp.

If you're broadcasting your location, one thing you need to know is that it uses up a lot of battery, so you should consider getting one of the picks from our best portable chargers and power banks to ensure your phone doesn't run out of battery.

Harish Jonnalagadda
Senior Editor - Asia

Harish Jonnalagadda is a Senior Editor overseeing Asia at Android Central. He leads the site's coverage of Chinese phone brands, contributing to reviews, features, and buying guides. He also writes about storage servers, audio products, and the semiconductor industry. Contact him on Twitter at @chunkynerd.