You can share your location with family on iPhone in two ways: with the tools Apple builds into iOS, or with a dedicated app like Orma. Apple's tools are quick to start. Orma adds a private circle, arrival alerts, an SOS button and end-to-end encryption. This guide covers both, then walks you through setting up a circle in Orma.
What your iPhone already offers
Every iPhone can share your location without installing anything. Here are the main options, in plain terms.
- Find My. Open the Find My app, tap People, then choose Share My Location and pick a person and a length of time. See Apple's guide to sharing your location in Find My.
- Messages. You can send your location to one person inside a conversation. It is handy for "I'm outside" moments.
- Family Sharing. If your family is already in a Family Sharing group, members can share locations with each other. Apple's Find My guide explains how.
These work well when everyone has an iPhone and you just want a simple way to see where someone is. You may want something more if you also want alerts when someone gets to school or home, a way to ask for help, or a setup where the company running the service cannot read your location at all. That is what Orma is for.
Before you set up a circle in Orma
A few things to sort out first. They save time later.
- Everyone needs an iPhone. Orma is iPhone only.
- Everyone joins by invitation. Nobody can be added without opening your invite link and joining themselves. Everyone in the circle can see who else is in it.
- Talk first. Location sharing works best when everyone has agreed to it. If you are setting this up with a teenager, our post on talking to your teen about location sharing can help.
Set up your circle step by step
A circle is the small group of people who see where you are. You can be in more than one circle, for example family and a group of friends.
Create the circle
- Open Orma and tap Continue with Apple. Orma uses Sign in with Apple only.
- On the Start your circle screen, type a name in Circle name. "Family" works fine.
- Tap Create circle.
- When iPhone asks about location access, allow it. Choosing Always lets your circle keep seeing where you are when Orma is closed, and lets arrival alerts work. You can choose While Using instead, but your location then only updates while the app is open.
Invite the people you want
- Tap Invite someone.
- Send the link. You can use Send on WhatsApp, or tap Share another way to use Messages, email or any other app.
- Only send the link to the person you are inviting. It carries your circle's key, so it should go to people you trust.
Each invite link works once and expires after 7 days. If you are inviting three people, create three links.
Join a circle someone else made
- Open the invite link on your iPhone. If Orma is not installed yet, install it first, then open the link again.
- Sign in with Continue with Apple.
- Read the Join screen. It tells you that everyone in the circle will see where you are, and you will see them.
- Tap the Join button.
If the link will not open, go back to the Start your circle screen, paste it into Paste an invite link, and tap Join circle.
See each other on the map
Once two or more people are in, you will see each other on one map. Each person shows when they last updated. You can look back at paths, arrivals and departures from the last 30 days, and get directions to anyone in your circle.
Choose when you share
You stay in control of your own location at all times.
- Open Settings in Orma.
- Use Share for a set time to share for 1 hour, 3 hours or 8 hours, or choose Until I turn it off.
- Tap Stop sharing whenever you want to stop. Your circle sees that you stopped, so nobody is left guessing.
You can also choose whether your sharing status appears on the Lock Screen and in CarPlay.
Orma is also gentle on your battery. It pauses location updates while your phone is still, and starts again when you move.
What the people who make Orma can see
Your location is encrypted on your iPhone before it leaves the phone, and only the phones in your circle hold the key. Our servers store scrambled data they cannot read. There are no ads and no data selling. For the full list of what is and is not visible to us, read the privacy policy. For a plain-language explanation of how this works, see what end-to-end encrypted location sharing means.
Next steps
- Set up alerts for home and school with how to get an alert when your kid arrives.
- Add a safety net with SOS on iPhone: Emergency SOS vs alerting your family.
- Getting a new phone? See moving your circles to a new iPhone.
If something does not work, check support.
FAQ
Can I share my location with family on iPhone without an app?
Yes. Find My, Messages and Family Sharing all let you share your location without installing anything. They are built into iOS. Apps like Orma add features such as arrival alerts, an SOS button and daily check-ins.
Does everyone in the family need an iPhone to use Orma?
Yes, for now. Orma is iPhone only, so each person in the circle needs their own iPhone with Orma installed.
Can I share my location for just a few hours?
Yes. In Orma, open Settings and tap Share for a set time, then pick 1 hour, 3 hours or 8 hours. Sharing stops by itself. You can also tap Stop sharing at any time.
Can someone see my location without me knowing?
No. Nobody can be added to a circle without opening an invite link and joining themselves, and everyone in a circle can see who else is in it. Orma is built for people who look out for each other, not for watching someone in secret.