When travelling to meet friends, commuting home from work, or driving to family gatherings, keeping others informed about your estimated arrival time often leads to dangerous or illegal smartphone usage behind the wheel. Manually sending text updates or making calls while driving increases risk and provides only static estimates that quickly become inaccurate due to traffic congestion. Google Maps solves this with its native Share Trip Progress feature on Android and iOS. Once active navigation begins, you can share a live, dynamic route map with trusted contacts. Recipients can track your vehicle’s real-time movement, monitor traffic delays, and view your automatically updating Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA)—with sharing terminating automatically the moment you arrive.
How Share Trip Progress Differs from Standard Location Sharing
Google Maps offers two distinct location-sharing tools, each engineered for different use cases:
- Indefinite Location Sharing: Broadcasts your general geographic coordinates 24/7 or for a fixed number of hours. It does not display your driving route, current speed, or navigation destination.
- Share Trip Progress: Temporarily links a contact directly to your active driving, walking, or cycling journey. They receive your full route map, real-time traffic slowdowns, and an exact ETA. The moment you arrive at your destination or cancel navigation, location sharing immediately ceases without requiring manual deactivation.
How to Share Trip Progress on Android and iPhone
Sharing your active journey takes just two taps after starting turn-by-turn navigation.
- Open the Google Maps app on your Android smartphone or iPhone.
- Search for your target destination and tap Directions.
- Select your mode of transit (driving, cycling, or walking) and tap Start to initiate turn-by-turn navigation.
- Once navigation begins, tap the bottom informational card (which displays your remaining travel time, distance, and ETA) or swipe up from the bottom of the screen.
- In the journey options menu, tap Share trip progress.
- A contact selector will appear:
- Direct Contacts: Tap from your frequently messaged contacts to share directly inside Google Maps or via SMS notifications.
- Messaging Apps: Tap More to generate a secure tracking link and send it via WhatsApp, Telegram, iMessage, or email.
- Tap Share.
What Your Recipients See
When you share your trip progress, recipients do not need specialized hardware or continuous Google account sign-ins to follow your route:
- Interactive Live Map: Clicking the link opens an interactive map showing your vehicle moving in real-time along your plotted route line.
- Dynamic ETA Updates: If you encounter unexpected roadwork, congestion, or take a detour to refuel, Google Maps automatically recalculates your ETA on their screen without you having to send a message.
- Device Battery Status: Displays your smartphone’s current battery percentage, reassuring friends if your phone powers down during the journey.
- Automatic Disconnect: As soon as your GPS crosses into the destination perimeter, the tracking session terminates automatically, safeguarding your privacy once the journey concludes.
How to Stop Sharing Trip Progress Before Arriving
If you change your plans, make an unscheduled stop, or decide to terminate sharing early, you can cancel the tracking session at any time:
- On the active navigation screen in Google Maps, swipe up from the bottom drawer.
- Locate the Sharing with… card situated directly below the navigation controls.
- Tap Stop sharing. Your location stream will instantly vanish from your recipients’ devices while leaving your personal navigation directions active.
Alternatively, ending your turn-by-turn route entirely by tapping the red X button also terminates trip sharing immediately.