How to Share Your Location for One Hour (or Any Duration)

Time-limited location sharing is the right tool for a lot of situations where always-on family-style sharing is overkill. The good news: every major platform supports it, and it takes about 30 seconds to set up. The bad news: each one limits you to a few preset durations — only a dedicated app gives you fine-grained control.

This guide covers all three options with exact steps. Pick the section that matches the device you’re using.

Quick comparison

	Available durations	Recipient needs	Auto-expire
iPhone (Find My)	1 hour, end of day, indefinite	iPhone or iPad	Yes (1 hr / EOD options)
Android (Google Maps)	1 hour up to 24 hours, or indefinite	Google account	Yes
iMessage (any iPhone)	1 hour, end of day, indefinite	Phone number, iMessage	Yes
CircleMap	15 min – 7 days (custom)	Phone number	Yes

iPhone: share for one hour using Find My

1. Open the Find My app on your iPhone.
2. Tap the “People” tab at the bottom.
3. Tap “Start Sharing Location.”
4. Pick the recipient from your contacts and tap “Send.”
5. Choose “Share for One Hour.” Find My also offers “Share Until End of Day” and “Share Indefinitely.”

Android: share for one hour using Google Maps

1. Open Google Maps.
2. Tap your profile picture (top right) and pick “Location sharing.”
3. Tap “New share.”
4. Set the duration to 1 hour. You can also choose 15 minutes, 30 minutes, longer durations up to 24 hours, or until you turn it off.
5. Pick the recipient from your Google contacts, or copy the share link to send via any messaging app.

The recipient gets a notification (or the link, if you used the copy method) and can view your location in their Google Maps app. They don’t need to share back.

CircleMap: custom duration from 15 minutes to 7 days

If you want a duration the built-in tools don’t support — like 45 minutes, 3 hours, or 4 days — or you’re sharing across iPhone and Android, CircleMap’s temporary circles fit better.

1. Open CircleMap and go to the Circles tab.
2. Tap “+ New Circle” and choose “Temporary Circle.”
3. Set a custom duration. Anything from 15 minutes to 7 days. Default is 30 minutes.
4. Invite the recipient by phone number. They get a notification with the duration shown.
5. Confirm. The circle expires automatically — no cleanup needed.

The advantage over Find My or Google Maps: you can share with multiple people in one circle, the recipient only needs CircleMap (which is free), and the durations cover the gap between “1 hour” and “until I turn it off.”

Common scenarios and what to pick

Walking home alone late at night

Use whatever’s fastest. iPhone “Share My Location for One Hour” via iMessage is the fastest path on iPhone. On Android, Google Maps share is fast. Both auto-expire when you’re home.

Meeting a stranger from a marketplace

30 minutes to 1 hour with a trusted friend. Either built-in tool works; CircleMap if you’re cross-platform.

Picking up someone at the airport

1–2 hours so they can see you arriving and where you’ll wait. Built-in 1-hour share works fine.

Group road trip across two days

2-day temporary CircleMap circle. Built-in tools don’t do multi-day shares well unless you go to “indefinite,” and then you have to remember to turn it off.

One-off delivery (you bringing food to a friend)

1-hour share works fine on any platform. CircleMap if the friend doesn’t want a Google account or iMessage.

What if I want to stop sharing early?

Every platform supports stopping early:

• Find My: People tab › tap recipient › “Stop Sharing My Location.”
• Google Maps: Location sharing › tap recipient › “Stop.”
• CircleMap: Open the temporary circle › tap “End now.” The circle is deleted immediately.

None of these are awkward to use. If you start a share and change your mind 10 minutes in, ending early takes about three taps.