Share Location on Telegram: Live, Groups and Proximity Alert
Telegram does what WhatsApp does and adds something almost nobody knows: an alert that tells you both when you're within the distance you choose. The steps, what your phone needs, and where it falls short.
Lots of people use Telegram for big groups (the extended family, the team, the crew) and don't know it also shares live location, with an extra feature WhatsApp doesn't have. Here's how, step by step.
Sharing your live location
- In the chat or group, tap the paperclip and choose Location.
- Tap Share My Live Location (below the map).
- If your phone asks, give Telegram location access in the background (“Allow all the time” on Android, “Always” on iPhone). Without it, your position only updates while the app is open.
- Choose 15 minutes, 1 hour or 8 hours. When the time runs out, it turns off on its own.
To stop sooner: tap the pinned notification that appears while you're sharing, or open the chat's map and tap Stop sharing. To send a single fixed point (“I'm here”, no live updates), choose Send My Current Location on the same screen.
The proximity alert (what WhatsApp doesn't have)
With live location on, open the chat's map full screen and tap the radar with the bell icon. Pick a radius, from 1 meter to 10 kilometers, and Telegram alerts you both when you're within that distance. It's handy for “let me know when you're near the station” or for meeting up at a festival without calling.
In groups
It works the same way: everyone who shares appears on the same group map. For a meetup or a friends' trip, each person shares for 8 hours and that's it.
Where Telegram falls short
- Eight hours at most. It's not for daily routines or for “let me know every day when I get home”.
- No saved spots or arrival alerts. The proximity alert is between two people, not “when they reach school”.
- No SOS, no battery levels for others, and no whole-family map outside a specific chat.
- Encryption: regular Telegram chats aren't end-to-end encrypted (only “secret chats” are), unlike WhatsApp's live location.
For a short “here's where I am for a bit”, Telegram and WhatsApp do the job. For a family that wants automatic arrival alerts, SOS, battery levels, and one shared map where everyone chooses how they appear, that's what a family location app like Mi Estela does.
Sources
- Xataka Android: how to share live location on Telegram (Nov 30, 2020)
- Applesfera: sharing your live location on Telegram for iOS
