First look: Google Messages is finally catching up with live location sharing

Over the past few years, we’ve seen Google Messages evolve from being a simple texting app to a full-featured messaging platform for Android. With RCS adoption and modern features like message reactions, inline replies, and improved media sharing, Messages feel more competitive with third-party chat apps than ever before.

Still, there’s one notable gap Google hasn’t yet filled — real-time location sharing. While Google Messages lets you share a one-time location, it only sends a static address, which isn’t particularly helpful when you’re moving around or trying to coordinate meetups on the fly. Thankfully, that’s changing soon.

While digging through Google Messages version messages.android_20260220_01_RC00.phone.openbeta_dynamic, we’ve discovered support for real-time location sharing, allowing users to share their live whereabouts for a set duration directly within a chat.

The feature isn’t live yet, but with a bit of tinkering, we were able to enable it and take a closer look at how it works. We actually spotted early hints of live location sharing back in November, and this latest version finally shows how the feature is expected to work end-to-end.

How real-time location sharing will work in Google Messages

Once the feature is available, the “Real-time Location” option will appear directly in the attachment sheet inside a conversation. You can then tap it to start sharing your location for a set or custom duration. You might have to grant location permissions if you haven’t done so already, but once that’s out of the way, you’ll be able to choose from the following real-time location sharing options:

• 1 hour
• Today only
• Custom duration

These are pretty similar to the real-time location-sharing options you get via Google’s Find Hub app.

Once real-time location sharing is active in Google Messages, a persistent banner appears at the top of the chat, clearly indicating that live location sharing is on and showing how much time is left.

Interestingly, the feature works even if the other person doesn’t have the real-time location feature on their end. Based on our testing, the recipient will receive a link to the live location. If they have the Google Find Hub app installed, the link opens directly in the app. If they don’t, the link opens in a web browser, displaying the sender’s live location in real time.

This approach makes the feature usable across devices and configurations, without requiring both users to be on the same app version or feature rollout.

Ending location sharing is also pretty straightforward. You can simply tap the banner at the top of the conversation and select “Stop” from the bottom sheet. Once stopped, the live location link stops updating immediately.