Location sharing

[old_codger]

Hope this is the right place. I'm trying to create location sharing between 2 android phones ((mine and child) and an iphone (wife). All 3 should see the location of the other 2 and all 3 should send/receive location alerts. I'm failing miserably.
I've tried location sharing in Life360, Google Maps, and MS Family safety. In all 3, my phone never shows movement. I always appear at hone on the other two devices. The other two devices are inconsistent - sometimes showing correct location, sometimes location is off by a mile, sometimes showing at home regardless of actual location. None send/receive notifications even when one of us enters a location alert area. Best I can tell, all 3 apps were/are set up correctly.
Are there a generic Location Sharing settings for android? That's the only commonality I can see.

 

[Clementine_3]

Is location set to 'always' on all the phones?
I've used Life 360 and Google Maps with success - both with iPhones in the mix. Life 360 had more options but Maps is certainly useable. Double check the settings for that pesky 'always' permission. For unknown reasons it would sometimes change itself on both, weird as that is it did.

 

[AugieTN]

It's been a while since I did this, but as i recall I did it all with Google maps, connecting Android phones. Two Pixel phones and a OnePlus phone I just had to get the permissions correct on the phones. I know I didn't install Life 360

 

[Clementine_3]

For Maps, that does only update every minute or 3 if there's movement, it also gets bored if there's no movement and may show offline - but it does refresh with a tap. That seemed to happen with the iPhones more.
Life 360 does sort of work better, or at least I thought so - it actively follows the person in real time, I didn't use the notifications but my sister does and they seem to work well.
For location settings go into (phone) settings/apps/maps or 360 or MS/permissions/location and set to always. That's the long way around but shows the right options. It's a bit different on iPhones and a bit confusing frankly but dig around in both the app and location settings.

 

[old_codger]

Thanks for all the responses. All 3 phones are set to "Always."
As I understand it, Life360 allows 2? places for free. after that > $$$. If family safety or Maps works for free, that's an easy call.
In both Maps and FS, the change of location for any of the 3 phones either NEVER shows a change or, commonly, can take 30-60 minutes. And, remember, if a family member has been at a location associated with a notification for 2-4 hrs, when either app does show a change, it can be off for a mile or 2 - never getting to the place to trigger the notification.
Short answer, the only setting for the phones outside of the apps, is to change the setting to "Always." Do I have that right?

 

[Clementine_3]

Not sure why they aren't updating or working properly but Maps did give me an occasional problem with that.
Life 360 is still probably your best bet, it really did seem pretty consistent and accurate. Free is good but not if you can't count on it. No clue on how many places you can have etc.
I'm just following a few people now on Maps, no kids so I'm not worried so much.

 

[Dannydet]

Make sure you are not running a VPN on the devices

 

[old_codger]

Make sure you are not running a VPN on the devices

VPN? How do I check?

 

[Dannydet]

Are you running an ad blocker on your devices? It usually works hand in hand with internet browsers

 

[old_codger]

Not that I know. aren't those an add-on to browsers?

 

[Hadron]

No, there are also stand-alone ad blockers that work for any app or browser, and they use VPNs (the servers block connections from known advertisers). They aren't in the play store, because Google are an advertising company, but are easy to find.

There is one other location setting that may affect things. The name varies with the age of the device: in the latest Android versions it's called "Google location accuracy" (options on or off) but previous versions were more explicit about what is was (e.g. the "off" option was called "device only"). Basically it lets you choose between only using satellite location ("device only" or "location accuracy off") and using both satellite and wireless networks for location. The name is misleading because wireless networks don't improve accuracy, but do provide location information when you can't connect to enough satellites (e.g. when indoors). So if that option isn't on it could explain delays in updates. Conversely if it is on it could explain inaccuracies: if someone has no satellite fix wireless alone can be quite crude, and occasionally completely wrong (when Google's database of network locations is inaccurate).

 

[old_codger]

Did a quick search of ad-blockers on the web, but found none on my phone.

 

[Dannydet]

OK at least you've ruled them out