How Location-Sharing Apps Are Changing Human Relationships

A glance at a phone app can now resolve questions that people once asked aloud. Is your partner nearly home? Has your friend reached the airport? Are your children still at school?

Apps for tracking and sharing live locations have unobtrusively become woven into daily routines, particularly for younger people.

Initially introduced as a safety tool, they have gradually developed into another means of communicating. At times, people share their location without giving it a second thought.

In other situations, it offers a way to organise relationships, sidestep uncomfortable discussions or simply make everyday life run more quickly.

Researchers have recently examined this increasingly common practice, finding that location-sharing apps are influencing how people interact in ways that many users may not completely recognise.

Location-sharing apps are more than maps and directions

The research followed a classroom conversation that generated unexpected interest.

Brian Ogolsky, a professor in the Department of Human Development and Family Studies at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, found that students held strong views and had plenty of experiences to share about revealing their locations to others.

“I believe knowing how people use these technologies helps us understand the scripts and processes that underpin relationships, how they are changing, and what that means for how we relate to each other,” he said.

The research team surveyed people in the United States and the United Kingdom about their use of location-sharing apps. Respondents, on average, shared their whereabouts with 3.86 people, although some shared them with as many as 83 individuals.

Apple’s Find My app was the platform used most often, with Google Maps, Life360, Snapchat and WhatsApp following behind.

People most frequently shared their location with romantic partners. Friends were next, followed by siblings, parents, children, extended family and housemates.

Safety is the main reason for location sharing

Safety emerged as the leading reason for people to share their whereabouts with close relatives.

Parents commonly seek confirmation that their children have arrived safely. Adult children may monitor older parents. Partners can feel more reassured when they know the other has reached home after driving late at night.

However, Ogolsky considers much of this sense of security to be emotional rather than practical.

“Respondents said it helps them feel safer knowing where someone is,” Ogolsky said. “That’s unsurprising; however, it’s really an illusion of safety.”

“Knowing where my partner is 50 miles from here does not mean I can help them in a pinch or get somebody else to help them. It may be more about peace of mind than actual safety.”

This reassurance may help explain why sharing locations has become so widespread. At a time when people regularly worry about accidents, emergencies and uncertainty, even limited information can offer comfort.

Relationships increasingly operate through apps

Among couples and friends, convenience was more important than safety. Location sharing was used to arrange dinner, organise timetables, collect children or follow someone travelling between cities.

Often, the app takes the place of a text message altogether.

Rather than asking, “Where are you?”, people can simply look. Although this may appear insignificant, it changes the nature of conversations. Brief check-ins that previously prompted interaction are vanishing.

The researchers also identified a more intimate aspect of sharing locations. For some, it represented evidence of honesty and trust. Others experienced pressure from partners or family members who anticipated continual visibility.

This may cause friction. A function intended to make things easier can gradually turn into an expectation.

The subtle decline of communication

Technology frequently offers greater efficiency, and location-sharing apps certainly provide it. Yet that efficiency may involve compromises.

“Our findings highlight that we’re heading toward a world where technological changes will dictate how and when we communicate,” Ogolsky said.

“Location sharing is moving from primarily safety-related uses into the relationship realm, where it alters communication.”

“You can check where someone is and decide you don’t want to bother them, so you don’t call or text. It takes away that person’s ability to say whether they would like to talk right now and removes interpersonal negotiation.”

This reflects a wider change associated with smartphones generally. A growing number of everyday exchanges are becoming passive.

Rather than asking questions directly, people respond to notifications, status markers and dots on a map. This produces less uncertainty, but can also mean less connection.

Modern life mapped in real time

Location sharing can also bring unforeseen social pressures. Groups of friends who routinely share their locations may unintentionally expose who is together and who has been excluded. This can intensify FOMO, the fear of missing out.

Privacy is another significant concern. Older generations are often uncomfortable with continuously revealing where they are.

Younger users, by contrast, have grown up with social media, smartphones and targeted advertising. Many already expect their data to be tracked.

This contrast may explain why younger people are generally more at ease sharing their location with friends, partners or even larger groups.

Experts nevertheless caution that this technology may be dangerous in abusive relationships or legal conflicts.

Location data that has been shared may subsequently be used in criminal enquiries or court proceedings. When it falls into the wrong hands, continual tracking can readily become controlling behaviour.

Convenience keeps users sharing their location

Despite these concerns, most users keep sharing their whereabouts because it simplifies everyday life.

With busy modern timetables, many people seek tools that cut down on waiting, planning and uncertainty.

“There is something to be said for streamlining the minutiae of relationships,” said Ogolsky. “A lot of people do not like planning; they do not like waiting.”

“With location sharing, they can get information about others without intruding, and they can be where they need to be at the right times. If they can squeeze in one more thing, that can be a real benefit for some people.”

The tension between convenience and connection may become one of the smartphone era’s defining social questions.

The apps themselves are straightforward. Their effect on human relationships is considerably more complex.

The complete study appeared in the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships.