How wherio location sharing works

Published 10 October 2026 · Applies to wherio 0.3.2 for Android

wherio shares your location only inside a short-lived session, and only with people who have been accepted into it. This guide explains who can see you, every way sharing stops, what happens if your connection drops, and what to do if you switch phones. For the full data details, read the privacy policy.

Starting and joining a session

• Enter a display name, then tap Create session. wherio gives you a six-character join code. No account, phone number or contact list is needed.
• Share the code, or tap Share code to send a link through any chat app. The link’s page offers to open wherio with the code ready, or to get the app if it isn’t installed.
• The other person enters their own display name and taps Join by code. They then wait until someone in the session accepts them.

The name in a join request is sent before anyone is accepted, so the people deciding can see who is asking. Use a name your friends will recognise, but it doesn't need to be your real one.

Who can see your location

Only accepted members of your session. Nothing about your position is exchanged until someone is accepted. After that, every location update is encrypted on your phone separately for each member, and the wherio relay passes it on without the keys needed to read it.

While the session runs, accepted members can see:

• your display name and your position on the compass and map;
• a trail of the path you have moved along since they started receiving your updates (shown by default; each person can hide trails on their own map);
• the meeting point, if one is set, and messages sent in session chat.

That information lives in each phone's memory and is cleared when the session ends. Anyone you accept could still take a screenshot, so accept only people you mean to meet.

Who decides who joins

• Free session: two people, you and one other. The person who started the session accepts or declines the request.
• Group session with wherio Plus: up to four people. Once the session is running, any accepted member can accept or decline a new request, and the first decision counts. Talk to your group about who is expected before you share the code.

Sharing with your screen off

During a session, wherio keeps sharing while your phone is locked or another app is open, so the arrow doesn't freeze mid-walk. While this is happening Android shows a notification titled Sharing your location. On first use, wherio may explain and then ask Android to let it keep running in the background; you can choose Not now.

How to stop sharing

Every way of finishing stops location updates from your phone, stops the background notification and wipes the session keys, names and locations from your phone.

• We're together! appears once everyone is within 100 m of each other. Confirming ends the session for everyone.
• The X button (Leave or stop navigating). In a two-person session, or if you started the session, it ends the session for everyone. If you joined a group and at least two other people remain, it offers Leave group: only you leave and the others keep navigating.
• Stop navigating in the notification. If two or more other people are still connected, you leave and they carry on. Otherwise it ends the session for everyone.
• Directions in maps app asks first, then hands your friend's last known position to your maps app and ends the session for both of you. That position won't update if they keep moving.
• Exit, offered when the distance between you hasn't changed for a while, ends the session.

A session also ends on its own when only one person is left in it, after about 15 minutes without activity, or 24 hours after it was created at the latest. When it ends, the join code stops working.

If your connection drops or the app closes

Signal loss, a dead battery or Android closing the app doesn't remove you straight away. The others see that you lost connection, and wherio holds your place for up to 15 minutes.

• Open wherio again within that time. It shows Reconnecting to session and restores your code and place. If it can't connect yet, use Retry under Resume session on the home screen.
• To make this possible, wherio keeps a small recovery record on your phone: the session code, your access token, your member number, your display name and whether you were accepted. It holds no location or chat history and is cleared when you leave or the session ends.
• Chat messages from before the interruption are not brought back.
• After 15 minutes the place is released and the record is no longer used. In a two-person session, that ends the session.

If you change phones

There is no wherio account to move. Sessions are meant for one outing, so the simplest approach is to start fresh on the new phone.

• Install wherio from Google Play and enter your display name.
• In a two-person session, start a new session and share the new code. Leaving with one other person ends the session for both of you.
• In a group, leave on the old phone first if you still have it. That frees your place straight away. Then join with the same code on the new phone and wait to be accepted. If the old phone is lost or switched off, its place is held for up to 15 minutes, so a full group may not have room until then.
• wherio Plus is a one-time purchase through Google Play. On a new phone signed in to the same Google account, wherio tries to restore it automatically. If it doesn't show, tap Purchase or restore on the home screen, then Restore purchase.

Still need help?

Email support@parktechsystems.com. Please don't include your location or a live join code.