DateableHow to find out who can already see your location
Check family sharing, old friend shares, running apps, and photo maps. You may have shared your location years ago and forgotten it.
Check five places: family sharing, old shares with friends, fitness and running apps, photo maps, and car apps. You may have shared your location with a friend years ago, let a running app record every route from your door, or left location on for your camera. Turn off what you no longer need before you start dating.
Check family sharing and friend shares first
Family sharing is easy to set up and easy to forget. If you share location with family, check who has access and who can see exactly where you are. On an iPhone, open Find My and tap People to see everyone who can see you. On Android, open Google Maps, tap your profile picture, then Location sharing.
You may also have shared your location through a messaging app. Some of those shares were set to "indefinitely" and are still running. Open the app's location or privacy settings, look for live location, and stop every share you no longer need. Check chats with past partners first.
Running apps and fitness trackers map your home
A run that starts at your door maps your home. Fitness and running apps ask for location so they can track your route. If your account is public or shared, anyone can see where your runs start and end, and a run that starts at your door every morning marks your home on a map.
Even if your account is private, the app itself holds your location data. Check the app's privacy settings. Some apps let you make your activity private or visible to named friends only. Some let you hide the start and end point. Turn off sharing to all and review who can see your activity.
Car apps do the same thing. A connected car's app shows where the car is to everyone signed in to it, which may include a former partner or a family member. Open the app, check who has access, and remove anyone who should not have it. In rideshare apps, check which trips you set to share automatically.
Photo maps reveal your patterns
Photos taken on a smartphone carry location data. If you upload them to Google Photos, Apple Photos, Instagram or Facebook, the app can build a map of everywhere you have been. Your home, your work, your favourite cafe all show up.
Check the privacy settings on any photo app you use. Turn off location storage for new photos. If you have old photos with location data, you can remove it or make it private. Some apps let you hide the map from others.
Only share when you need it
The Australian privacy regulator's advice is to switch on location services only when necessary, and share location with as few apps as possible 1. Go through your phone's installed apps and check which ones have permission to access your location. Delete apps you no longer use. For ones you keep, turn off location access unless you actively need it for that app.
For example, you might turn on location for Maps when you are travelling. Turn it off after you get home. Keep it off for social media, email and messaging apps. These apps do not need to know where you are.
Before you meet someone
After you have cleaned up old shares and checked your apps, think about your first date. For your own safety, you may want to share your location with a trusted friend during the date. Send them your location in real time or check in when you arrive and when you leave. This is a different kind of share: it is one-time, to someone you trust, for your safety.
You can share location temporarily through most messaging apps. The share lasts for an hour or a few hours and then stops. This is much safer than a permanent share to the dating app or to someone you have just met.
I'm meeting someone tonight at [venue] at 7. I'm sharing my location with you for two hours. I'll message when I get home.
Where else location shows up
- Banking apps: some ask for location to prevent fraud. Check whether it is on and whether you can turn it off.
- Wearables: smartwatches and fitness trackers send location to an app. Check the app settings.
- Google and Apple accounts: both build a timeline of where you have been. Go to your account settings and review what is stored. You can delete the history.
- Your phone's own location history: most phones keep a log. Turn this off in Settings under Location or Privacy.
- Shared accounts: a tablet, laptop or streaming account signed in with the same ID as your phone can show your phone's location. Sign out of devices you no longer own.
Read an app's privacy policy before downloading it, especially if you will share your location or financial information with it 1. The policy says how the app handles location data, who it shares it with, and how long it keeps it. If it is unclear, choose a different app.
Once the old shares are off, set up the one share you want: your safety friend, for the length of the date. The first-date safety guide covers the rest of that plan, and protect your privacy covers your name, number and photos. If you feel unsafe during or after a date, there is help.
Sources
- Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (2026). Mobile devices.
