Trusted Contacts: New App From Google Allows Users To Share Their Location With Loved Ones

A new app from Google ensures even when you’re alone, someone will have your back. Trusted Contacts is the company’s personal safety app that allows users to share their location with the people who matter most.

The app aims to put an end to texts making sure a person is safe and sound by simply showing the other party where the user is at that moment. As the name of the service suggests, Trusted Contacts allows users to define who they trust — be it friends, family, roommates, etc. — and to whom they want to reveal their location at any given time.

The system is relatively simple, and primarily opt-in. Once two parties have added one another through Trusted Contacts, they can provide a live update to their location. Once a user decides to share their location, the contact receives a notification.

A trusted contact can also request the location of one of their connections. Trusted Contacts gives the option to accept or decline those requests but if a person doesn’t respond within five minutes, the app automatically sends along their location.

It’s a sort of trip switch system designed to make sure the requesting user can check in on their contact if something is preventing them from getting to their phone. The service also works when a phone is offline, sending a locational ping in response to a request even if the phone isn’t connected to any network.

Locations are displayed on Google Maps, where their contact’s movements are tracked in real time. Users can share their location on demand and switch it off at any time.

There are obvious safety benefits that come with an app like Trusted Contacts — which achieves a feature similar to but more robust than the Share My Location feature in iMessage or similar features in apps like Facbook Messenger. Having an immediate way to check in on a person can provide peace of mind for both parties.

It also brings some privacy concerns, as do all location-tracking services. Trusted Contacts presents a feature that is ripe for overreach, whether from an overbearing parent who wants to see where their child is at all times or a spouse or partner who uses the feature in an abusive manner.

Google has done its best to mitigate any risks outside of user behavior. Trusted Contacts doesn’t leak location data to anyone outside of the people who are supposed to receive it. The app doesn’t run endlessly in the background, constantly recording your data, either. Instead, it launches and remains active while sharing or checking in on a person’s location.