From install to
your first shared map

1. Getting started

Install GeoTrackMe from the App Store or Google Play — it is listed as GeoTrackMe: Location Sharing. It runs on iOS 17 or later and on Android.

The first screen asks you to sign in with Google. That is the only sign-in method: there is no password to invent, forget or have stolen from us, because we never hold one.

After signing in you land on the map. It will be empty, and your own position will not be shared with anybody yet — sharing starts only after you invite somebody and they are approved.

2. Your invite code

Every account has one invite code. It is the only way somebody can ask to follow you, and it lives in the app in two identical forms:

• A QR code — hold your screen up and let the other person scan it.
• A short text code — copy it and send it through any messenger you already trust.

Scanning and typing do exactly the same thing. Which one you use is only a matter of whether the other person is standing in front of you.

Replacing the code

If a code ends up somewhere you did not intend, generate a new one. The old code stops working immediately, and everyone already on your list is unaffected — they were approved individually, not by the code.

3. Adding someone

1. Ask the other person for their invite code — remember that following is one-way, so you need their code to see them.
2. Open Add friend and either scan their QR code or paste the text code.
3. Send the request. It now waits for them to approve it.

Sending requests is free and unlimited on every plan, including the free one. You will not be blocked here.

4. Approving requests

When somebody uses your code, a request appears in Notifications. Nothing is shared while it sits there.

• Accept — from this moment they can see your position on their map, as long as your sharing switch is on.
• Reject — the request disappears and they are told nothing beyond that it was not accepted.

Accepting is where your plan limit is checked. On the free plan one person can follow you; if you are already at your limit, the app will offer you the upgrade screen rather than silently failing.

5. The map

The map is the home screen. Everyone who shares with you appears as a marker with their photo or initials, and each marker carries a freshness indicator so you can tell a position from ten seconds ago from one from ten minutes ago.

The friend rail

A narrow rail along the left edge lists the people you follow. Tap it to expand it; tap a person to centre the map on them. It stays out of the way of the map itself, which is the point.

Getting directions

Open a person and choose Directions. On Android this opens Google Maps; on iPhone it opens Google Maps if you have it installed and Apple Maps if you do not.

Map style

Normal, satellite and hybrid views are available on both platforms. Android additionally offers terrain, which Apple's map framework does not provide.

6. Managing people

Open anybody from the rail or the map to reach their settings:

• Rename them to whatever you actually call them. The nickname stays on your phone.
• Give them a photo from your gallery. It is stored locally and never uploaded — it does not replace their photo for anybody else.
• Reset the nickname and photo to what their own profile says.
• Pause them, which stops them seeing you without removing them and without notifying anybody else.
• Remove them entirely. They lose access at once, and would need a fresh request to come back.

7. The sharing switch

One switch in Settings controls whether you are visible at all. Turn it off and you disappear from every map immediately — including your last known position, which is removed rather than left frozen on the screen.

Use the switch when you want to be invisible to everyone for a while, and use pause when it is about one particular person.

8. Update interval

Choose how often your position is sent: 5 seconds, 15 seconds, 30 seconds, 1 minute, 5 minutes or 10 minutes. This is the single biggest lever you have over battery use.

The setting belongs to your device, so a phone on 5 % battery can slow down without anyone else changing anything.

9. Permissions

GeoTrackMe asks for two things, and explains both before asking:

• Location, including in the background. Without background access, sharing stops the moment your screen goes dark — which defeats the purpose. On iPhone, choose Always when asked; on Android, allow All the time.
• Camera, only when you scan somebody's QR code. Typing the code instead works just as well, so this permission is genuinely optional.

If location permission or your device's location service is switched off, the app shows a small banner on the map rather than a dialog that blocks you. You can keep using it to look at other people while you are invisible yourself.

10. Language and theme

The app is fully translated into nine languages: English, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Dutch, Portuguese, Russian and Turkish. It follows your phone's language by default, and you can override it inside the app without changing anything system-wide.

Light and dark appearance follow your system setting.

11. Plans and purchases

The app is free to download. What you pay for is the number of people who can follow you, and whether you see ads.

Purchases go through the App Store or Google Play, so refunds, receipts and cancellations are handled by Apple or Google under their own rules. Subscriptions are yearly; the ad-free upgrade is a one-time purchase. Prices will be published when the app goes live.

Reinstalled the app or bought a new phone? Use Restore purchases and sign in with the same Google account.

12. Leaving

There are two doors out, and you can use either from the web without installing the app:

• Delete all my data — clears your shared location and your lists but keeps the account.
• Delete my account — removes your profile, your position and your invite code. This cannot be undone.

The same options are in the app's settings. Deleting your account also ends the sharing relationships you were part of; the people who followed you simply stop seeing anything.

13. Troubleshooting

A friend's marker is not moving

Their sharing switch may be off, they may have paused you, their phone may have no signal, or their interval may be set to 10 minutes. The freshness indicator on the marker tells you how old the position is.

Nobody can see me

Check the sharing switch first, then location permission — background access in particular — and then whether your device's location service is on at all. The banner on the map names whichever one is missing.

The code they gave me does not work

Invite codes can be regenerated, and the old one stops working the instant a new one is made. Ask for the current code.

I accepted somebody but cannot see them

Accepting lets them see you, not the other way round. Send them a request with their code to see them too.

Battery is draining faster than I like

Raise the update interval. Going from 5 seconds to 1 minute cuts the number of location fixes by a factor of twelve.