Meeting up with friends but you cannot find them? Now you can GPS'em up with "Buddy Locator on Google Maps" and "Buddy Locator Basic". You both can track each other's location and movements, live!
Have you ever showed up to an appointment only to see no sight of your friend(s)? Wouldn't it be cool if you could look them up on Google Maps and see where they are and also let them see where you are?
Now you can! With "Buddy Locator On Google Maps" you can punch in their phone number and they will get a notification that you are looking for them. When they acknowledge your request for two-way location sharing, both of you will see each other's position on a moving map, realtime. You can get the street address of their location, turn-by-turn directions to their position, or get a route on the map to where they are. The route and the directions take into account whether you are walking, biking, or driving. You can also use the in-app chat to send and receive messages while connected!
Meeting more than one person? No problem! As long as you have their mobile phone numbers you can connect with all of them, at the same time!
Only the people you establish connection with will see your location. You are not broadcasting and you are not sharing your location on a social network.
Notes:
- Ideally your buddy has this app, or the free companion app, running on their mobile phone. Both sides also need to have data connection for this application to function correctly. In addition, both sides need to have GPS enabled on your devices.
- If the receiving party does not have this app or the free companion app on their mobile phone, you will be offered to send a single text message (standard text messaging charges might apply) which will allow the recipient to track your location on many smart phones.
- A valid Google account is required for authentication and data communications. If you do not have a Google account, the application will guide you to create a new Gmail account. You do not need to use this Gmail account for any other purposes. If you already have a Gmail account but don't want to use it with this application, you can create a separate and dedicate Gmail account for this app.
- While using this application, your phone will be sending and receive data. Standard carrier data charges will apply.
- This application will be sent a text message to validate the phone number when you first install the application. Standard carrier text messaging rates will apply for any text messages sent or received.
- Currently this application and the related services are only available in the USA and for the USA mobile phone numbers. No international phone numbers, even if they are roaming in the USA, can use this application.
- If you are using Google Voice (or other similar products), make sure you set phone to receive text messages directly, through your carrier, not through the Google Voice app. You can revert back to your normal settings once the app is registered and your phone number is verified. Similarly, if you are using 3rd party text messaging services or apps, please disable them before you run the app. Again, once registered and verified you can change your phone to your desired settings. The activation will not complete successfully if this app cannot receive the verification text message directly from your carrier.
