Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

Location sharing technologies using smartphone applications allow users to share their geolocation with each other in real time. Such sharing is a relational process that requires engagement and negotiation with another person. In the current study we use communication privacy management theory to situate our work and examine (a) with whom individuals share their location, (b) the reasons why individuals share their location, and (c) how these reasons differ based on relationship type. Data about individuals’ location sharing practices were collected from a sample of 203 adults who share their location with at least one person. A qualitative descriptive approach was used to analyze participants’ open-ended responses. Results indicated that participants, on average, shared their location with 3.86 individuals (SD = 7.22, Median = 2), with romantic partners being the most frequently shared with (62.6%). Four main reasons for location sharing were identified in the data: Relationship Processes (using location sharing to maintain, support, or manage relationships), Casual (sharing due to indifference, passivity, or for entertainment), Practicality (sharing for efficiency or task management), and Safety (sharing for peace of mind or safety purposes). Safety reasons were most commonly reported for mothers, fathers, children, roommates, and siblings, whereas Practicality was most frequent for romantic partners and friends. This study lays the groundwork for further research on location sharing practices and offers a first step in understanding the relational dynamics of location sharing.

Keywords

communication location sharing relationships social media technology

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Abel

Machin

Brownlow

(2021). Social media, rituals, and long-distance family relationship maintenance: A mixed-methods systematic review. New Media & Society, 23(3), 632–654. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444820958717

Anderson

(2016). Parents, teens and digital monitoring. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2016/01/07/parents-teens-and-digital-monitoring/

Apple Support . (2025). How to share your live location on iPhone. Apple. https://support.apple.com/en-us/105104

Berger

C. R.

Bradac

J. J.

(1982). Language and social knowledge: Uncertainty in interpersonal relations (Ser. The Social Psychology of Language). Edward Arnold.

Berridge

Wetle

T. F.

(2020). Why older adults and their children disagree about in-home surveillance technology, sensors, and tracking. The Gerontologist, 60(5), 926–934. https://doi.org/10.1093/Geront/Gnz068

Brown

Taylor

A. S.

Izadi

Sellen

Kaye

J. J.

Eardley

(2007). Locating family values: A field trial of the Whereabouts Clock. In Krumm

Abowd

G. D.

Seneviratne

Strang

(Eds.), UbiComp 2007: Ubiquitous Computing — 9th International Conference, UbiComp 2007, Proceedings (Lecture Notes in Computer Science) (Vol. 4717, pp. 354–371). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-74853-3_21

Burnell

Andrade

F. C.

Kwiatek

S. M.

Hoyle

R. H.

(2023). Digital location tracking: A preliminary investigation of parents’ use of digital technology to monitor their adolescent’s location. Journal of Family Psychology, 37(4), 561–567. https://doi.org/10.1037/fam0001067

Caughlin

Ruppel

McEwan

High

(2026). Technology and personal relationships. In Vangelisti

Perlman

Sprecher

(Eds.), Handbook of personal relationships (pp. 719–743). https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009381949

Charmaz

(2006). Constructing grounded theory: A practical guide through qualitative analysis. Sage.

10.

Chase

G. E.

Brown

M. T.

Navarro

J. L.

Lippold

M. A.

Jensen

(2024). Digital location tracking in the parent/caregiver–college student dyad. Journal of Adolescence, 96(4), 855–864. https://doi.org/10.1002/jad.12300

11.

Christofides

Muise

Desmarais

(2009). Information disclosure and control on Facebook: Are they two sides of the same coin or two different processes? CyberPsychology and Behavior, 12(3), 341–345. https://doi.org/10.1089/cpb.2008.0226

12.

Davis

I. S.

Thornburg

M. A.

Patel

Pelham III

W. E.

(2024). Digital location tracking of children and adolescents: A theoretical framework and review. Clinical Child and Family Psychology Review, 27(4), 943–965. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10567-024-00500-8

13.

Dhaliwal

(2023). 3 reasons to think twice about enabling location sharing. McAfee. https://www.mcafee.com/blogs/internet-security/3-reasons-to-think-twice-about-enabling-location-sharing

14.

Doerfler

Turk

K. I.

Geeng

McCoy

Ackerman

Dragiewicz

(2024). Privacy or transparency? Negotiated smartphone access as a signifier of trust in romantic relationships. arXiv. https://arxiv.org/abs/2407.04906

15.

Ervasti

Laitakari

Hillukkala

(2016). I want to know where my child is at all times’– field study of a location-aware safety service for schoolchildren. Behaviour & Information Technology, 35(10), 833–852. https://doi.org/10.1080/0144929X.2016.1201144

16.

Frampton

J. R.

Fox

(2021). Monitoring, creeping, or surveillance? A synthesis of online social information seeking concepts. Review of Communication Research, 9(1), 1–42. https://doi.org/10.12840/ISSN.2255-4165.025

17.

Fusco

S. J.

Michael

Aloudat

Abbas

(2011). Monitoring people using location-based social networking and its negative impact on trust. In 2011 IEEE international symposium on technology and Society (ISTAS) (pp. 1–11). https://doi.org/10.1109/ISTAS.2011.7160597

18.

Goldberg

Yeshua-Katz

Marciano

(2022). Online construction of romantic relationships on social media. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 39(6), 1839–1862. https://doi.org/10.1177/02654075211067814

19.

Guha

Wicker

S. B.

(2015). Do birds of a feather watch each other? Homophily and social surveillance in location based social networks. In Proceedings of the 18th ACM conference on computer supported cooperative work & social computing (pp. 1010–1020). https://doi.org/10.1145/2675133.2675179

20.

Gupta

Gomathi

Vohra

(2016). Monitoring people using location-based social networking and its negative impact on trust: An exploration of trust in relationships. International Journal of Communication Systems, 29(4), 616–629. https://doi.org/10.1109/ISTAS.2011.7160597

21.

Haber

M. G.

Cohen

J. L.

Lucas

Baltes

B. B.

(2007). The relationship between self-reported received and perceived social support: A meta-analytic review. American Journal of Community Psychology, 39(1-2), 133–144. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10464-007-9100-9

22.

Hancock

P. A.

Kessler

T. T.

Kaplan

A. D.

Stowers

Brill

J. C.

Billings

D. R.

Schaefer

K. E.

Szalma

J. L.

(2023). How and why humans trust: A meta-analysis and elaborated model. Frontiers in Psychology, 14(1), Article 1081086. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1081086

23.

Hasinoff

A. A.

(2017). Where are you? Location tracking and the promise of child safety. Television & New Media, 18(6), 496–512. https://doi.org/10.1177/1527476416680450

24.

Hernández-Santaolalla

Hermida

(2020). Malicious social surveillance and negative implications in romantic relationships among undergraduates. Surveillance and Society, 18(3), 387–399. https://doi.org/10.24908/ss.v18i3.13149

25.

Holcomb

M. C.

Tulane

(2025). A qualitative examination of parent perspectives of digital location tracking use with their emerging adult children. Marriage & Family Review, 62(3), 269–290. https://doi.org/10.1080/01494929.2025.2581146

26.

Holtzman

Kushlev

Wozny

Godard

(2021). Long-distance texting: Text messaging is linked with higher relationship satisfaction in long-distance relationships. Journal of Social and Personal Relationships, 38(12), 3543–3565. https://doi.org/10.1177/02654075211043296

27.

Koebert

(2026). Spying on your kids: 96% of parents track their children’s online activities [Survey]. All About Cookies. https://allaboutcookies.org/how-many-parents-track-their-children

28.

Kurtz

O. T.

Wirtz

B. W.

Langer

P. F.

(2022). An empirical analysis of location-based mobile advertising—determinants, success factors, and moderating effects. Journal of Interactive Marketing, 54(1), 69–85. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.intmar.2020.08.001

29.

Lachance

(2019). Parental surveillance of teens in the digital era: The “ritual of confession” to the “ritual of repentance”. International Journal of Adolescence and Youth, 25(1), 355–363. https://doi.org/10.1080/02673843.2019.1651351

30.

Langlais

M. R.

Marich

(2024). Should we track our children? An exploratory examination of Life360 and interpersonal and relational well-being. The Family Journal, 32(4), 605-612. https://doi.org/10.1177/10664807241269455

31.

Laningham

(2022). Are location sharing features more than a convenient tool? Harris Poll. https://theharrispoll.com/briefs/location-sharing-features/

32.

Zhu

Liang

Shen

(2018). Privacy leakage of location sharing in mobile social networks: Attacks and defense. IEEE Transactions on Dependable and Secure Computing, 15(4), 646–660. https://doi.org/10.1109/TDSC.2016.2604383

33.

Life360 . (2023). For Gen Z, (location) sharing is caring. Life360. https://www.life360.com/blog/gen-z-location-sharing-study

34.

Martin

(Host) (2025). Modern love [Audio podcast]. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/25/podcasts/location-sharing-relationships.html?

35.

Marwick

A. E.

Boyd

(2014). Networked privacy: How teenagers negotiate context in social media. New Media & Society, 16(7), 1051–1067. https://doi.org/10.1177/1461444814543995

36.

Mavoa

Coghlan

Nansen

(2023). “It’s about safety not snooping”: Parental attitudes to child tracking technologies and geolocation data. Surveillance and Society, 21(1), 45–60. https://doi.org/10.24908/ss.v21i1.15719

37.

McEwan

LeFebvre

L. E.

(2023). Romantic relationships and social media. In Ogolsky

(Ed.), The sociocultural context of romantic relationships (pp. 201–225). Cambridge University Press.

38.

McFarland

L. A.

Ployhart

R. E.

(2015). Social media: A contextual framework to guide research and practice. Journal of Applied Psychology, 100(6), 1653–1677. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0039244

39.

Microsoft . (2021). The benefit of location sharing for families. Microsoft. https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365-life-hacks/privacy-and-safety/the-benefit-of-location-sharing-for-families

40.

Milne

Ringrose

Horeck

Mendes

(2026). Tinder for teens: Youth digital intimate cultures and tech facilitated violence on Snapchat. Computers in Human Behavior, 174(1), Article 108823. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2025.108823

41.

Nansen

Mavoa

Coghlan

Gibbs

(2025). Public discussion of family location tracking apps: A cross-platform analysis of social media posts about Life360. New Review in Hypermedia and Multimedia, 31(3), 229–249. https://doi.org/10.1080/13614568.2024.2437399

42.

Ogolsky

B. G.

Dobson

Rivas‐Koehl

Kawas

Hardesty

J. L.

(2025). The progression of college student romantic relationship development: Stability and change over 10 years. Personal Relationships, 32(1), Article e12590. https://doi.org/10.1111/pere.12590

43.

Öğüç

Ç.

(2025). Marriage, surveillance and power: A critical examination of control in the digital age. Journal of Academic Approaches, 16(2), 570–594. https://doi.org/10.54688/ayd.1620780

44.

Patil

Norcie

Kapadia

Lee

A. J.

(2012). Reasons, rewards, regrets: Privacy considerations in location sharing as an interactive practice. In Proceedings of the eighth symposium on usable privacy and security (pp. 1–15). https://doi.org/10.1145/2335356.2335363

45.

Pempek

T. A.

Yermolayeva

Y. A.

Calvert

S. L.

(2009). College students’ social networking experiences on Facebook. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 30(3), 227–238. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appdev.2008.12.010

46.

Petronio

(2002). Boundaries of privacy: Dialectics of disclosure. State University of New York Press.

47.

Petronio

(2015). Communication privacy management theory. In Berger

C. R.

Roloff

M. E.

Wilson

S. R.

Dillard

J. P.

Caughlin

Solomon

(Eds.), The international encyclopedia of interpersonal communication (pp. 1–9). Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118540190.wbeic132

48.

Petronio

Child

J. T.

(2020). Conceptualization and operationalization: Utility of communication privacy management theory. Current Opinion in Psychology, 31(1), 76–82. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2019.08.009

49.

Ramirez

Gjika

(2025). Race, gender, and electronic surveillance in intimate relationships. Communication Monographs, 1–21(1), 93–113. https://doi.org/10.1080/03637751.2025.2525824

50.

Reed

L. A.

Tolman

R. M.

Ward

L. M.

(2016). Snooping and sexting: Digital media as a context for dating aggression and abuse among college students. Violence Against Women, 22(13), 1556–1576. https://doi.org/10.1177/1077801216630143

51.

Rogers

M. M.

Fisher

Ali

Allmark

Fontes

(2023). Technology-facilitated abuse in intimate relationships: A scoping review. Trauma, Violence, & Abuse, 24(4), 2210–2226. https://doi.org/10.1177/15248380221090218

52.

Roy

(2023). I love you, let’s stalk each other. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/18/style/find-my-friends-location-sharing-privacy.html

53.

Rus

H. M.

Tiemensma

(2017). “It’s complicated.” A systematic review of associations between social network site use and romantic relationships. Computers in Human Behavior, 75, 684–703. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chb.2017.06.004

54.

Sandelowski

(2000). Whatever happened to qualitative description? Research in Nursing & Health, 23(4), 334–340. https://doi.org/10.1002/1098-240X(200008)23:4<334::AID-NUR9>3.0.CO;2-G

55.

Schlegel

Chow

Huang

Wong

(2017). Privacy-preserving location sharing services for social networks. IEEE Transactions on Services Computing, 10(5), 811–825. https://doi.org/10.1109/TSC.2016.2514338

56.

Schwab

(2016). The Fourth Industrial Revolution: What it means and how to respond. World Economic Forum. https://www.weforum.org/stories/2016/01/the-fourth-industrial-revolution-what-it-means-and-how-to-respond/

57.

Scott

Motti

L. G.

(2026). Snap decision: Snap Maps and location sharing. In Ardito

Barbosa

S. D. J.

Conte

Freire

Gasparini

Palanque

Prates

, (Eds.), Human-computer interaction – INTERACT 2025 (Lecture Notes in Computer Science) (Vol. 16111, pp. 302–306). Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-05008-3_57

58.

Smith

R. D.

Grevstad

Hearn

(2026). Safety or surveillance? Personality predictors and relational outcomes of partner location-sharing practices. Computers in Human Behavior Reports, 21(1), Article 100978. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chbr.2026.100978

59.

Sprecher

Hendrick

S. S.

(2004). Self-disclosure in intimate relationships: Associations with individual and relationship characteristics over time. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 23(6), 857–877. https://doi.org/10.1521/jscp.23.6.857.54802

60.

Sukk

Siibak

(2022). “My mom just wants to know where I am”: Estonian pre-teens’ perspectives on intimate surveillance by parents. Journal of Children and Media, 16(3), 424–440. https://doi.org/10.1080/17482798.2021.2014646

61.

Swire

Kennedy-Mayo

(2025). The risks to cybersecurity from data localization — Organizational effects. Arizona Law Journal of Emerging Technologies, 8(3), 1–34. https://doi.org/10.2458/azlawjet.7523. https://azlawjet.com/2025/01/v8a3

62.

Tang

K. P.

Lin

Hong

J. I.

Siewiorek

D. P.

Sadeh

(2010). Rethinking location sharing: Exploring the implications of social-driven vs. purpose-driven location sharing. In Proceedings of the 12th ACM international conference on ubiquitous computing (pp. 85–94). https://doi.org/10.1145/1864349.1864363

63.

Thibaut

J. W.

Kelley

H. H.

(1959). The social psychology of groups. Wiley.

64.

Tsai

J. Y.

Kelley

P. G.

Cranor

L. F.

Sadeh

(2010). Location-sharing technologies: Privacy risks and controls. I/S: A Journal of Law and Policy for the Information Society, 6(2), 119–151.

65.

van Hoboken

Fathaigh

(2021). Smartphone platforms as privacy regulators. Computer Law & Security Report, 41(1), Article 105557. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.clsr.2021.105557

66.

Villamin

Lopez

Thapa

D. K.

Cleary

(2025). A worked example of qualitative descriptive design: A step-by-step guide for novice and early career researchers. Journal of Advanced Nursing, 81(8), 5181–5195. https://doi.org/10.1111/jan.16481

67.

Voorpostel

van der Lippe

Gershuny

(2010). Spending time together—Changes over four decades in leisure time spent with a spouse. Journal of Leisure Research, 42(2), 243–265. https://doi.org/10.1080/00222216.2010.11950204

68.

Wang

S. S.

Chen

S.-T.

(2025). Digital surveillance and relational uncertainty: The role of geolocation tracking in romantic relationships. Social Science Computer Review, 0(0), 08944393251361455. https://doi.org/10.1177/08944393251361455

69.

Widmer

Albrechtslund

(2021). The ambiguities of surveillance as care and control: Struggles in the domestication of location-tracking applications by Danish parents. Nordicom Review, 42(S4), 79–93. https://doi.org/10.2478/nor-2021-0042

70.

Wisniewski

Irtaza Safi

Patil

Page

(2020). Predicting smartphone location-sharing decisions through self-reflection on past privacy behavior. Journal of Cybersecurity, 6(1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1093/cybsec/tyaa014

Near,Far,Wherever You Are: With Whom and Why Do People Use Location Sharing in Relationships

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References