Comparison · checked September 2026

MyLoco vs Google Maps

Both can show someone your live location for a while. Google Maps does it as one switch inside your Google Account. MyLoco is only the share, with nothing underneath it.

Google Maps is the app almost everyone already has. Its location sharing is free, works on iPhone and Android, shows your battery and can alert the other person when you arrive, and a link works for someone without a Google Account. It is the obvious first answer to “where are you?”, and this page doesn’t pretend otherwise.

So why does MyLoco exist? Because sharing from Google Maps means sharing from your Google Account: the other person sees your Google name and photo and where you’ve recently been, the sharing can be set to run until you remember to turn it off, and the location data lives under the policy of a company whose business is advertising. MyLoco has no account to share from. The share ends, the position is erased, and nothing about you stays behind.

Side by side

Google Maps column from Google’s own help pages and privacy policy as of September 2026; details and dates under “How we checked.”

Why “temporary” is the whole difference

Google Maps has a timer too. The difference is what surrounds it.

• You share a position, not an identity. In Google Maps the other person sees your Google name, your profile photo, where you’ve recently been and your battery level, because the share comes from your account. In MyLoco they see the name you typed and where you are right now. Nothing else exists to show.
• There is no “until you turn this off.” Google Maps offers it, and it is the option people pick and forget. Every MyLoco share is 15, 30 or 60 minutes, or until you stop, with no extend button. Ending is what happens if you do nothing.
• Nothing is kept. When a MyLoco share ends, the position is erased and the share record is deleted within a day. Google Maps stops sharing when the timer ends; what the account has collected stays under Google’s privacy policy, which says location information helps offer “ads based on your location,” and how long it is kept depends on your settings and auto-delete choices.
• Nobody signs in, on either side. A Google Maps share needs your Google Account, and sharing with a contact needs theirs. MyLoco has no accounts at all: the app to share, a browser to watch.
• Groups work as one map. Google Maps shares per person. MyLoco’s group share puts everyone with the app on one live map, each on their own timer, and gives people without the app a watch link in the browser.

The long version of this argument is in Temporary location sharing, explained.

Where Google Maps is ahead

It is already on the phone, so there is nothing to install and nothing to explain. The timer runs up to 24 hours, and a link stays valid that long. The other person sees your battery level, which matters when you are the one being picked up, and can set an alert for when you arrive or leave. Sharing with a contact shows up inside their Maps, next to the directions they will use to reach you. It works on iPhone today. And it is Google Maps, with a 4.7-star rating from more than seven million App Store reviews; MyLoco has a release from this month. If you are fine sharing from your Google Account, Maps is the simplest answer, and we would rather say so than pretend.

On iPhone

Google Maps is available today. MyLoco’s iPhone version is with Apple for review. On Android, MyLoco is available now. If you’re on an iPhone and this page made sense to you, leave an email and we’ll send exactly one message the day it lands.

Sending a driver or a technician to a customer?

Google Maps location sharing is a feature of a personal account; a business can’t create a tracking link per delivery from its backend, and a customer shouldn’t need a driver’s Google identity to see a van approach. MyLoco for Business gives you an API that creates a temporary live tracking link with your name on the page, feeds it from the driver’s phone, tells you by webhook when it ends, and deletes the position afterwards.

POST /v1/shares  →  tracking URL  →  live location for the customer
                 →  webhook when it ends  →  position deleted

Retention is off unless you turn it on (opt-in, up to 90 days, and it belongs to your business — the customer’s page says so). Plans start at $29/month after a free trial; the endpoints are on the API page and the product on MyLoco for Business.

Which one for what

• Family and close friends who already share in Maps: Google Maps. Battery, arrival alerts and directions in one place are hard to beat.
• Someone you don’t want in your Google life — a marketplace buyer, a date, a client, a contractor: MyLoco. They get a position for an hour, not your name, photo and recent whereabouts.
• A group heading to one place: MyLoco, for the shared map and the watch link.
• Anyone who has ever found a forgotten “until you turn this off” share months later: MyLoco. There is nothing to forget.
• A business sending people to customers: MyLoco for Business. Google Maps doesn’t do that.
• iPhone: Google Maps today; MyLoco when the review is done. Android: MyLoco now.

How we checked

Google facts come from Google’s own pages as of September 2026: the Google Maps Help article “Share your real-time location with others in Google Maps” (Android and Computer versions), the Google Account Help article “Manage your Location Sharing settings,” the Google Maps Help article on Timeline, the Google Privacy Policy (effective 26 May 2026), and the App Store listing (version 26.33.1, updated 14 August 2026). MyLoco facts describe the app as shipped. If something here is out of date, write to hello@myloco.app and we will fix it. Google Maps is a trademark of Google LLC; MyLoco is not affiliated with Google.

Fair questions