[spcurtis81]

I wonder if anyone can help me understand how the Google+ location sharing feature works please?

I understand that in order to share your pinpoint location with a set of Google+ contacts, you need to have location privacy settings allowed in both the Google+ and Google Search apps and that you need to have allowed sharing to the desired contacts in the Google+ settings however I am a little confused as to how the location is updated.

Do I have to open the Google Search app every time I want to update the location shared with my contacts (as this appears to be the case with the set up I have at the moment). I had expected the Google+ location sharing to work in the same way Apple's Fnd My Friends app updates automatically in the background.

Maybe I am missing a setting or maybe it is a case of needing to refresh the location manually. If anyone can help, it would be great.

Cheers,
Ste

[jsntrenkler]

Great question! I have found that I have to open the app in order for my location to be updated. This may be a limitation with the API, as I don't know that apple will allow a app to broadcast it's position while in hibernation.

[Jaguarr40]

I just read more about the Google Search app to your question and you DO have to open the app in order for the location to be updated to be shared along with everything you mentioned in your first paragraph instead of retyping it.

[spcurtis81]

Thanks for the answers guys. Had done quite a bit of google'ing and had struggled to find this info so thanks for the help.

Seems a shame that this feature is not available considering the introduction of background refresh. Maybe it will surface in the bear future.

At least I can stop searching now and put up with it the way it is for now.

Thanks again.

[spcurtis81]

Further to this I wonder how this effects other apps such as IFTTT app which has recipes which use GPS location. Might set one up to see if it works. If it were an API issue then I would expect it not to work.