In this article
A live location normally runs for a set period and stops by itself. There is also an option to keep it going until you switch it off, which removes the timer entirely.
That turns a one-off into an arrangement, and an arrangement with no end date is a different thing from a share that expires this afternoon.
What you will be able to do
- check_circle Share a location that does not expire on its own.
- check_circle See at a glance that it is still running.
- check_circle Stop all of them in one action.
- check_circle Judge when an open-ended share is right.
The duration list includes an option with no end, chosen when the share starts.
timer_off Nothing will remind you
A timed share has a safety property that is easy to overlook: it ends whether or not anybody remembers it. An open-ended one ends only when a person acts, and people do not act on things that are working quietly.
That is the whole of the risk. Not that somebody is watching — you chose them — but that the arrangement outlives the reason for it. The trip finished in March and the share is still running in July, to somebody whose place in your life has changed since.
Telegram does what it can about this. A banner sits at the top of the chat list whenever a live location is running, and it stops all of them in one tap. That banner is the feature that makes the open-ended option reasonable, and it deserves a glance rather than becoming furniture.
It is worth knowing exactly what the other side gets, because people imagine both more and less than the truth. They see a map in the chat with your marker moving as you move, and they can open it at any moment without telling you. There is no notification when they look, no record of how often, and no difference between a glance and an hour of watching.
That asymmetry is the reason an open-ended share should be a conversation rather than a gesture. Sharing is a single tap and feels generous; being on the other end for months is a different arrangement, and the person doing the sharing usually has not pictured it. Say what it is for and agree when it ends, even if the answer is that it does not.
Four situations
Two want no end date and two very much want one.
family_restroom A standing arrangement
directions_car A long drive or a walk
schedule Use the timer
stop_circle The banner is the control
No end date suits a relationship, not an errand. Everything else should expire on its own.
settings Using it
- Attach a live location from the chat And choose the duration.
- Pick the open-ended option only for a standing arrangement Otherwise take the shortest timer that covers it.
- Make it mutual where it is ongoing Between adults, that matters.
- Set a proximity alert for a journey Instead of watching the map.
- Stop it on arrival The one moment you will remember.
- Check the banner weekly It stops everything in one tap.
This page shares where you are. The curriculum step is everything else that quietly says where you are and when: last seen, online status, the settings that blur them, and what somebody watching a profile can work out.
At a glance
- 1Indefinite sharing
Share live location with no end time.
- 2Visible bar
A bar at the top shows it is still running.
- 3Stop it
End all shares in one tap; nothing reminds you otherwise.
Updated
