Whether you are traveling or in your daily life, it can be useful to look up your location history. If you are traveling, you can check the places you visited today, and if you are on a daily basis, you can check your usual route. Google Maps has functionalities that allow you to track cell phone location. Read below to learn more about tracking cell phone location with Google Maps, its limitations, and other apps to consider.
Google Maps Location Sharing
Google Maps has built-in features that allow users to share their locations with each other. This feature allows two users, who are each logged into their Google account on their Google Maps app, to be able to access each other’s location easily.

To share your location with Google Maps, you must be logged into your Google account on your Google Maps app. If these conditions are met, you can share your location as follows: Open Google Maps app > Select your profile (Right top) > Select “Location Sharing” From there, you will be able to share your location with a friend or a family member for a designated time.
Google Timeline
Google Timeline is a location history service provided by Google Maps. If Google Maps is installed on your smartphone and you are logged into the Google Maps app with your Google account, the timeline is automatically recorded and can be viewed easily.

To view Google Timeline on your phone, you must first have the Google Maps app installed and logged into your Google account. If all of these conditions are met, you can view the timeline as follows: Open the Google Maps app > Select My Profile (my picture) > My Timeline
Google Maps’s Pros & Cons
When it comes to tracking cell phone location, Google Maps has its definite pros & cons. Its clear pros has emphasis on the “location” part — as one of the largest map providers in the world, it’s easy to access and is very regularly updated to reflect the most accurate map information.
However, the tracking portion is very limited. Sharing your location with Google Maps needs to be refreshed regularly and needs one person to initiate the location sharing. Furthermore, with this feature, you are only able to check the current locations of each other.
Google Timeline also has its limitation in that you must log in to your Google account. This means that you must be logged in to your Google account to view your location history, just like sharing your location with friends and family is cumbersome. Also, this means that you cannot track someone’s location with someone else’s Google Timeline.
Other Solutions?
To overcome the shortcomings when it comes to tracking cell phone location with Google Maps, the best solution is iSharing app.
iSharing is a real-time GPS location tracker that has Google Maps built into their system. They offer all the functions of Google Maps’s location sharing and Google Timeline through its 24/7 location tracking and its 90-day location history. The best part? The app is free to track cell phone location with Google Maps.

Additionally, iSharing even gives you access to all the features below:
- Driving Report that counts dangerous events while driving
- Customizable privacy settings
- Emergency alarms and alerts for when friends and family leave or arrive a location
Ready to try iSharing? download the app and start sharing for free!