The rollout of Real-time Location Sharing in Google Messages for Android is currently expanding following an announcement earlier this month. Users will notice a new green icon labeled “Real-time Location” within the ‘plus’ menu of conversations, indicated by a dot. This feature allows for live map sharing alongside the existing “One-time Location” option that links to Google Maps.
When activated, users can choose how long their location is shared, with options for durations such as 1 hour or custom settings. The recipient will receive a notification displaying “See my real-time location.” A privacy banner will also inform users about ongoing location sharing.
As of now, the feature is widely available in both beta and stable versions of the app. Notably, the visibility of the badge indicating location sharing will remain unless the sharing is initiated by another user, which could be seen as a potential bug or a clever tactic.