Sharing your location and Leave-now reminders

Share your own latest location from the phone apps with grown-ups you pick, and be reminded when it is time to leave.

What is shared

Only a grown-up can share, and only their own location: there is no way to turn it on for somebody else. Children never share a location and never see one. The phone keeps only its latest position: where it is, how accurate the reading is, and when it was taken. There is no history in the app, and the backups we make never include it; the database host's own recovery copies expire within its retention window. If the phone cannot reach the server when you tap Pause, the app remembers the Pause and finishes it the next time it opens, so an interrupted Pause never turns back into sharing.

The phone sends a new reading at most every two minutes, or sooner after moving about 200 meters. In the phone apps it keeps sharing while the app is closed. Android shows an ongoing notification the whole time, and iPhone shows the blue location indicator. Sharing does not start again by itself after a reboot; open the app and it resumes if it is still on.

Turn it on

1. Open the Android or iPhone app, and go to Family & settings → Location sharing.
2. Tap Share my location and read the explanation. Nothing is turned on until you continue.
3. Allow precise location while you are using the app. The app then explains why it needs Allow all the time and opens the phone's own setting for it.
4. Choose Just me, or Chosen grown-ups and check the grown-ups who may see it.
5. Tap Start sharing. While it is on, Today and the top of the app say so, and Android shows an ongoing notification with Pause.

If you choose only while the app is open, sharing still works then and stops when you leave the app. You can change who sees it, or pause, at any time. Pausing or turning it off deletes the position at once. Signing out on that phone turns sharing off as well, so signing in again never starts it without you choosing. It is also deleted after 24 hours without an update. Every 30 days the app sends you a reminder that sharing is still on.

The family map

When an adult has chosen you, their dot appears on the family map with how long ago the position was taken and how accurate it was. The map draws only what you are allowed to see: your own position, and the people who chose you. If the deployment has no map service, the same people are shown as a plain list.

Leave-now reminders

For an event with a place, the app can work out the drive and send you a phone reminder when it is time to leave, such as “Leave by 3:40 for Soccer practice, about 18 minutes away”. It is for a grown-up who is going and is sharing their own location. The reminder follows your quiet hours and your notification choices, and you get one per event. Turn it on or off under Family & settings → Notifications → Leave-now reminders.

The map service is sent only the address typed into the event to find its place, and later only the two sets of coordinates to work out the drive. The event title, the people going and names are never sent to it.

Stop sharing

Tap Pause on the Today banner, at the top of the app, or on the Location sharing screen. The position is deleted at once and other grown-ups stop seeing it. If the phone cannot reach the server when you tap Pause, the app remembers the Pause and finishes it the next time it can. Signing out on that phone turns sharing off too, so signing in again does not resume it without you turning it on. Your answer to the explanation is kept until the account is deleted, so turning it back on does not ask you again unless the explanation has changed.

Still stuck? Email support@ourstead.casa and say which device you use. A person reads every message.