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iPhone owners: You can now use Google Maps to share your live route location, ETA

But you'll need to give Google Maps access to phone contacts and permission to access your location always.
Written by Liam Tung, Contributing Writer

The latest update to Google Maps brings live location-sharing to iPhone users.

The feature, which is already available in Google Maps on Android, allows iPhone users to share their live location, route, and ETA with contacts.

Android and iOS can now also share Google Maps live location information via WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger, Line and other third-party messaging apps, according to Google.

Google Maps automatically stops sharing the device's location when the user arrives at the destination. While sharing is activated, there's a blue person icon next to the ETA. Users can choose to stop sharing.

The recipient will see the sender's location, avatar, ETA, and device battery level for the duration of the trip.

To share a live location, users need to select a destination and start navigating. There's a new 'Share trip progress' option in the drag-up menu at the bottom of the screen.

SEE: Tech and the future of transportation (ZDNet special report) | Download the report as a PDF (TechRepublic)

iPhone users may need to adjust privacy settings for the sharing feature to work. To share live locations with contacts, Google Maps will need access to phone contacts, notifications must be enabled, and location access for Google Maps must be be set to 'Always', rather than say, 'While Using'.

Location sharing can also be accessed from the menu bar in the search box. Here you can create a link that allows any recipient to see your location for a set period of between 15 minutes to 72 hours. You can also request a contact share their location via Google Maps.

The feature works for driving, walking, and cycling navigation on Android and iOS. Google has also posted a support document for real-time location sharing.

Google this week also rolled out a Google Maps feature to help electric car drivers locate charging stations. Typing in "ev charging" or "EV charging stations" will bring up a list of charging stations.

Globally, the feature supports Tesla and Chargepoint. In the US, it supports SemaConnect, EVgo, Blink. Supported stations in the UK include Chargemaster, Pod Point, while Chargefox is supported in Australia and New Zealand.

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Lane-keep assist seems to tick off a fair number of owners, which isn't surprising.

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