share my position via GPS

ugo.santalucia

I thought it would be handy for my wife to be able to follow me via GPS if I go for a long Audax. That avoids the hassle of having to text

I have an Android phone, she has an iPhone. What are the options, possibly free... ?

Strava summit Beacon is for iOS only, so not an option, as I understand (and not free)

Anything useful with Google maps or similar?

chris_bass

If you log into chrome on a PC (same details as on your phone) then type where is my phone, Google will magically tell you where your phone is and if you have it on you then it'll let them know where you are.

Failing that Garmin live tracking works really well (if you have a Garmin that is!)

zeee

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.techad ... 592/%3famp

lettingthedaysgoby

My Wahoo Bolt does this.

veronese68

There’s an app called Life360, works over Android and Apple. Started using it when the boy went travelling so we could see where he was.

harry-s

+1 for Life360.

super_davo

I use the Glympse app for Android. I've never used Life360 so don't really know more than the details in the Play store blurb, but the major difference with Glympse is that it just shares when you initiate sharing for a set period of time, not always. It gives details like how fast you're travelling in which direction which is very handy when you're trying to meet up at a destination or just to know you're still alright. Its also been totally reliable for me and doesn't make a noticeable drain on the phone battery.

You can also just share location on Google Maps, which is what I do on my daughters phone (will allow permanent sharing or just when initiated for a set period of time). Works OK, but it hasn't been as reliable and doesn't give as much information as Glympse.

joe2008

Veronese68 wrote:

There’s an app called Life360, works over Android and Apple. Started using it when the boy went travelling so we could see where he was.

The thought of my parents watching my global position when I was travelling as a young man is disturbing.

mercia_man

ViewRanger mapping app has a thing called Buddy Beacon which sends your location on a map to someone else. It works even if your wife isn’t a registered user. She can use a PIN to see your location via website.

https://www.viewranger.com/en-US/produc ... uddybeacon

sam_anon

ugo.santalucia wrote:

I thought it would be handy for my wife to be able to follow me via GPS if I go for a long Audax. That avoids the hassle of having to text

I have an Android phone, she has an iPhone. What are the options, possibly free... ?

Strava summit Beacon is for iOS only, so not an option, as I understand (and not free)

Anything useful with Google maps or similar?

Yes, Google maps allows exactly this, free, regardless of device, but each person involved needs a Google account.

ugo.santalucia

Thanks, sounds like plenty of options.

Do they drain the phone battery quickly? I rarely use my phone and the battery lasts 4-5 days... I need at least 48 hours of battery life

cougie

+1 for Life360. My wife has to make a lot of house calls and this is an easy way to see where she's got to. Works on apple and android. Obviously it will use a bit more battery but guess that depends on your battery and use as to how much you get out of it. Don't most people recharge the phone overnight ?

me-109

Snapchat has a map facility that shows where your connections are. Can be disabled if you need to.

StillGoing

A Wahoo ELEMNT or some Garmin devices do Live Tracking if you want to spend money. Otherwise a cheap option is a GPS positioning tracker.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Tracking-Posit ... B07717QWV7

sam_anon

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Thanks, sounds like plenty of options.

Do they drain the phone battery quickly? I rarely use my phone and the battery lasts 4-5 days... I need at least 48 hours of battery life

You could simply test it! GPS seems to use more battery than I had imagined.

Bumo_b

Also RUN GPS dpes this

MissedTheBreak

You can do this on WhatsApp if you both have it, just share your location for 8/24 hours depending how long you’re out for. Not sure about impact on battery life though.

g00se

Before I got the 520, I started using Glympse but changed to Pathshare as I found it more intuitive. It was a good few years ago and things may have changed.

https://pathsha.re

I am/was a heavy phone user and didn't notice it impacting the performance. But I would be running strava at the same time so location services would be running etc.

davebradswmb

I've got a Wahoo Bolt and I have used the live tracking facility. I found that it reduced the run time of the Bolt from ~15 hours to ~12 hours, but worse it had a very significant effect on the battery life of my phone so that it wouldn't do more than about 5 hours. I have replaced the phone now, and the effect on the new one isn't so pronounced so that I have managed 6.5 hours without flattening the battery - which is the longest ride I have done yet with this phone.

If you are using the GPS in the phone I would have thought it would hammer the battery, navigating with Google Maps certainly uses a lot of power.

step83

GPS is one of the more hungry power consumers that coupled with your phone sending your location I'd expect it to drain the juice somewhat quickly.
Do you have the space to take a USB battery pack?

ugo.santalucia

davebradswmb wrote:

I have replaced the phone now, and the effect on the new one isn't so pronounced so that I have managed 6.5 hours without flattening the battery - which is the longest ride I have done yet with this phone.
.

I need about 35-40 hours

shirley_basso

Whatsapp live location sharing (you can set an amount of time you want to share) - 15m, 1h, 24h - then just turn it on again when it runs out.

If you use the Google Maps account option you can leave it permanently on and it doesn't rinse your battery.

Both work cross-platform and are free.

navrig2

There is an app for Android which allows you to create your own "routine". Setup properly this is likely to be the best means of sharing your location AND preserving your battery AND not being dependent on 3G signal as it only uses the mobile phone network.

Basically you would set up the routine to take the GPS co-ordinates and share them via SMS. You would set the time interval between SMS being sent - 15 mins, 30 mins etc.

I have thought about using this app to SMS my wife when I get within 5 miles of home asking her to put the coffee on ;-)

If you use live tracking you need 3G and batter consumption will be much higher.

I can't find the one I have used but something like this:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/deta ... ation.free

davidof

Navrig2 wrote:

There is an app for Android which allows you to create your own "routine". Setup properly this is likely to be the best means of sharing your location AND preserving your battery AND not being dependent on 3G signal as it only uses the mobile phone network.

Here in the mountains sms is pretty much the only reliable way of communicating. I wrote my own app to do pretty much the same as your suggestion - but in one specialized app.

navrig2

davidof wrote:

Navrig2 wrote:

There is an app for Android which allows you to create your own "routine". Setup properly this is likely to be the best means of sharing your location AND preserving your battery AND not being dependent on 3G signal as it only uses the mobile phone network.

Here in the mountains sms is pretty much the only reliable way of communicating. I wrote my own app to do pretty much the same as your suggestion - but in one specialized app.

The app I am trying to remember allows you to create a macro which acts like an app. It creates an icon in the home screen and when tapped runs in the background. Almost an app but not quite.

Can you export the apk file?

davidof

Navrig2 wrote:

davidof wrote:

Navrig2 wrote:

There is an app for Android which allows you to create your own "routine". Setup properly this is likely to be the best means of sharing your location AND preserving your battery AND not being dependent on 3G signal as it only uses the mobile phone network.

Here in the mountains sms is pretty much the only reliable way of communicating. I wrote my own app to do pretty much the same as your suggestion - but in one specialized app.

The app I am trying to remember allows you to create a macro which acts like an app. It creates an icon in the home screen and when tapped runs in the background. Almost an app but not quite.

Can you export the apk file?

The app I created is on Google Play, it is called RATA. I need to recompile for an updated Android target though as it was built for Android 4.something and Google are stopping support in Jan. I will do that this week. Personally I use it all the time but it may not be useful for others.

navrig2

davidof wrote:

Navrig2 wrote:

davidof wrote:

Navrig2 wrote:

There is an app for Android which allows you to create your own "routine". Setup properly this is likely to be the best means of sharing your location AND preserving your battery AND not being dependent on 3G signal as it only uses the mobile phone network.

Here in the mountains sms is pretty much the only reliable way of communicating. I wrote my own app to do pretty much the same as your suggestion - but in one specialized app.

The app I am trying to remember allows you to create a macro which acts like an app. It creates an icon in the home screen and when tapped runs in the background. Almost an app but not quite.

Can you export the apk file?

The app I created is on Google Play, it is called RATA. I need to recompile for an updated Android target though as it was built for Android 4.something and Google are stopping support in Jan. I will do that this week. Personally I use it all the time but it may not be useful for others.

Had a look at your app. Pretty good. Our business is in the process of rolling out Lone and Remote Working processes using special GPS trackers which effectively do what your app does. The difference being that there is a centralised reception for text messages and calls. The system also has an emergency button and can link to the satellite phone network (that's the "nuclear" response).

I have installed the app and will give it a go later when we head to Tenerife.

davidof

Navrig2 wrote:

Had a look at your app. Pretty good. Our business is in the process of rolling out Lone and Remote Working processes using special GPS trackers which effectively do what your app does. The difference being that there is a centralised reception for text messages and calls. The system also has an emergency button and can link to the satellite phone network (that's the "nuclear" response).

I have installed the app and will give it a go later when we head to Tenerife.

I was recently seeing some crashes, I think this is due to the Android version it was built against. It says it has crashed but actually keeps running because it is just a very simple service in the background that wakes up, gets the GPS position and SMSes it.

I will probably Open Source the code when I get a moment.

navrig2

davidof wrote:

Navrig2 wrote:

Had a look at your app. Pretty good. Our business is in the process of rolling out Lone and Remote Working processes using special GPS trackers which effectively do what your app does. The difference being that there is a centralised reception for text messages and calls. The system also has an emergency button and can link to the satellite phone network (that's the "nuclear" response).

I have installed the app and will give it a go later when we head to Tenerife.

I was recently seeing some crashes, I think this is due to the Android version it was built against. It says it has crashed but actually keeps running because it is just a very simple service in the background that wakes up, gets the GPS position and SMSes it.

I will probably Open Source the code when I get a moment.

It's crashing on me now plus the GPS data has stopped displaying. The concept is great and if working, I think, could be sellable at a small cost.

veryslowtwitch

whats app has option to share position. simplest and free. no external gps needed.