Maps & Location

See where your group members are in real time, track location history, and set up location-based alerts.

Overview

Maps gives your group a shared live map showing where members are, with three main features:

• Live member locations — see group members on the map in real time (if they're sharing their location)
• Trips — view a structured list of each member's recent journeys, with start/end addresses, distance, duration, and a map thumbnail
• Places — create named zones on the map and get notified when members enter or leave them

The Map

Open Maps from your group's navigation (or from the main app navigation if you use multiple groups). The map fills the screen. Use standard pinch-to-zoom (mobile) or scroll wheel (desktop) to navigate.

Two buttons appear on the right side of the map:

• Places — opens the Places manager panel to create and manage geofences
• Trips — opens the Trips panel to browse each member's recent journeys

Member Locations

Group members who are sharing their location appear as colored circular markers on the map, showing their initials (or avatar photo). Location markers update in real time as members move.

Tap any member marker to see:

• Their name
• How recently their location was updated (e.g., "Just now", "5 minutes ago", "2 hours ago")

Trips

Tap the Trips button on the map to open the Trips panel. Grūps App automatically segments each member's location history into individual journeys — a trip is a period of movement separated by a stop of sufficient duration (configurable in Location Settings).

Member picker

At the top of the Trips panel, each member who is sharing their location appears as an avatar button. Tap a member's avatar to view their trips. The selected member's avatar is highlighted with their map color. Only one member's trips are shown at a time.

Trip cards

Each trip in the list is shown as a card with:

• Thumbnail — a small map preview showing the route as a colored line. If the thumbnail hasn't loaded yet, a colored placeholder line appears instead.
• From address — the starting location of the trip (resolved via reverse geocoding)
• To address — the ending location of the trip, or "In progress" if the trip hasn't ended yet
• Time range — start and end times, total duration, and distance traveled (in miles or kilometers, based on your distance unit preference)

Selecting a trip

Tap a trip card to highlight that trip's route on the map. The map automatically zooms and pans to fit the full trip within view. The selected card is visually highlighted with a colored left border. Tap it again, or tap a different card, to change the selection.

Stops

If the member paused during a trip (stopped somewhere for a period before continuing), stop rows appear beneath the trip card. Each stop shows the address where they paused, the arrival and departure times, and how long they stayed.

Trip history retention

How far back trips are shown depends on your group's plan. A retention label in the panel shows the current window:

Places (Geofences)

A Place is a named circular zone on the map. When a group member enters or exits a Place, you can receive a notification. Places are shared across the group — any member can create, edit, and manage them.

Common uses:

• A training ground or sports facility — know when players arrive
• A meeting venue — see who has checked in before the meeting starts
• A school or workplace — track when kids or team members leave for the day
• A home zone — know when family members arrive home safely

Tap Places on the map to open the Places manager. Existing Places are listed here and shown as colored circles on the map.

Each Place in the list shows:

• Name and status (Active or Inactive)
• Whether entry and exit alerts are enabled
• How many members have subscribed to alerts for that Place

Actions per Place:

Creating a Place

Tap Create New Place in the Places panel. The process is guided:

On desktop

1. Set the location — use either method:

   • Search — type an address, street name, or place name (e.g. "Lincoln School" or "Main Street") in the Search Address field. A dropdown shows up to 5 matching results with the place name and address. Click a result to fly the map to that location and set it as the center point.
   • Click on the map — click directly on the map to drop a marker. Drag the marker to fine-tune the position.
2. Enter a name — e.g., "Training Ground" or "School". If Grūps App can identify a nearby address, it suggests one below the name field.
3. Configure the Place:

   • Category — choose a category (Home, Work, School, etc.) which sets the icon and default color
   • Description — optional short note
   • Radius — drag the slider (50m – 1,000m) or drag the circle edge on the map to resize the zone
   • Notifications — check "Notify when entering" and/or "Notify when exiting"
   • Color — choose a color for the circle on the map
4. Tap Save Place.

On mobile

The same process is split into a 5-step wizard. In Step 1: Set Location, you can either tap the map to drop a pin or type in the Search Address field to find a location by name or address. Select a result from the dropdown to fly the map to that spot and set it as the center. Then proceed through the remaining steps: name → description → radius → color & notifications. Tap Create Place on the final step.

Place Alerts

Place alerts notify you when specific group members enter or leave a Place. Alerts are personal — you choose which members to track, and your settings don't affect what other members see.

To set up alerts for a Place: tap the bell icon on the Place in the list. The alert subscription panel opens.

For each group member:

• Toggle the switch on to subscribe to alerts for that member
• When enabled, choose to be notified on Entry, Exit, or both (at least one must be checked)
• Toggle off to stop receiving alerts for that member

You cannot subscribe to alerts about yourself — your own row shows a "You" label with no controls.

Location Settings

Each member can configure their personal location preferences from the Location Settings page. Access it from the map menu or from your account settings.

Distance Units

Choose whether distances in the Trips panel are shown in Miles (mi) or Kilometers (km). This is a personal preference — it only affects what you see, not what other members see. The setting is saved to your account and synced across devices.

Trip Detection — minimum stop time

This setting controls how long you must stay in one place before Grūps App considers it a stop and starts a new trip when you move again. Four options are available:

Tap the pill for the desired threshold to select it. Changes take effect for newly recorded trips — existing trip history is not reprocessed.

Location Policy

Every group has a location policy that determines what location features are available to its members. The policy is set when the group is created and cannot be changed afterward.

To see your group's current policy, go to Group Settings → Location. A policy badge at the top of the page shows the active policy and a note that it was set at group creation.

Privacy

Location sharing in Grūps App is completely opt-in:

• Members appear on the map only if they have granted location permission to the Grūps App on their device.
• Members can stop sharing their location at any time by revoking location permission in their device settings.
• Members who are not sharing their location are invisible on the map — no marker, no trail.
• Location data is only visible to other members of the same group.