Google Messages Might Finally Get Real-Time Location Sharing

The Google Messages app is one of the best, if not the best, texting apps on the Google Play Store, and most Android phones use it as the default messaging app. However, no matter how highly you rate the app, if you use other messaging services, you may be aware that Google’s text messaging solution is missing some key features, including live location sharing, found on those platforms.

Related

If you’re one of those people who complain about the missing live location sharing feature in the Google Messages app, Google might soon address this issue. In fact, it looks like the Mountain View tech giant has already started working on it, as Android Authority has found evidence of the live location feature in the latest beta version of the Google Messages app.

Google Messages app will soon take location sharing to the next level

The Google Messages app currently allows users to share their location with their contacts, but that location data shows only the position at the time you sent it. If you move to another place, it doesn’t update the location accordingly on the recipients’ phones. This is where live location sharing comes in handy. Once you start sharing your location in real time, the recipient can track your movement and reach your current location without hassle.

WhatsApp has had this feature for a long time for both Android and iOS, and if you’ve used it before, you are already familiar with the process. Although Android Authority’s APK teardown of the Google Messages beta doesn’t reveal how the feature will work on the messaging app, it should be very similar to how live location sharing works in apps like WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Telegram, and Google Maps.

"live_location_sharing_shortcut_title">Live Location Sharing

If that’s how Google wants to implement real-time location sharing, you can expect options like the ability to set a duration before sending your live location. This will allow the recipient to track your live location till the time you set, and not beyond that. Another feature you can expect is end-to-end encryption for real-time location sharing. This means if you use RCS Chat in the Google Messages app, your location data will be encrypted, just like your messages.

We’ll be able to tell how well real-time location sharing works on Google Messages only when we test it. If it does it as effortlessly as apps like WhatsApp, the live location-sharing feature can potentially be considered one of the best features of Google Messages.