Share your location to other iOS users with this handy feature

Let's say you need to meet someone at a certain location, but they are not familiar with the area. If you have an Apple iPhone sporting iOS 8 or higher, you can quickly share your location with other iOS users. To do this, open Messages and start a message to the person you want to find you. If you have an existing thread, that will work as well.

Tap the details button in the upper right corner. You will see two options. Share my Current Location takes a "GPS snapshot" of your location and sends it to the recipient in map form. The recipient can tap on the blue "i" for more information and can even click on a button to receive directions to where you are. Share My Location is different. Click on that and your current location is shown in real-time for 1 hour, until the end of the day, or indefinitely. Besides opening up your location in real-time, this setting will also drain your battery. If you want to end the location sharing early, click Details in the top right corner and tap Stop Sharing My Location.

This is one of those features that comes in handy for iOS 8 users, but isn't often publicized. Hopefully, if the situation to use it does arise, you will remember that it is available.


source: CNET