How to share your location using BuddyBeacon
Let your family and friends know where you are and allow them to follow your adventures in real time. In case of an emergency, BuddyBeacon can be used to find your exact location quickly.
How do I share my location using BuddyBeacon?
To activate your BuddyBeacon, make sure you are viewing the map from within the app (Map, Plan or Track), tap the three-dots icon from the bottom right of the screen and select “BuddyBeacon”, this will open the BuddyBeacon configuration menu. Alternatively, you can activate BuddyBeacon by tapping your location marker on the map and then selecting “Send My Beacon”, from here you have the option to enable and configure sharing preferences. These settings can also be adjusted when BuddyBeacon is deactivated.
Configuration: To share your location, enable 'Share my location' at the top of the configuration menu screen. Use 'Duration' to specify how long you want to share the location and 'People' to add the people who are allowed to follow you via BuddyBeacon or create a share link. Everyone who has an Outdooractive account and receives the share link as well as everyone who has an Outdooractive account and was added by you can follow you as long as your "BuddyBeacon" is activated. You can delete people from the list or revoke the share link at any time.
How do I follow others?
Whilst sharing your own BuddyBeacon is only possible from within the app, tracking Buddies works in both the app and web version. To track Buddies from the web version, click the three-dots icon, at the bottom right of the screen when viewing the map (Map, Route Finder or Route Planner), select “BuddyBeacon” and “Enable BuddyBeacon watchers list”. Here you will see the BuddyBeacons that have been shared with you. In the app, you can find the Buddy watch list in the BuddyBeacon configuration menu. You can activate "Show Buddies on map" from here.
The position of your friends will be displayed on the map with their profile picture. The color of the marker indicates the status of their position:
- Blue → Good GPS signal, the position that is being displayed is current.
- Orange → An old position is being displayed
- Gray → The position cannot be determined
Select the profile picture to display more information such as current coordinates, the send time of their last confirmed location, battery level and average speed. Depending on the personal settings of the sending person, the distance travelled may also be displayed.
Good to know
- When you select a friend's BuddyBeacon, you can create a point at their location, route to their location or share your location with that friend.
- The Buddy watch list gives you an overview of everyone who allows you to track their location. Additionally, you can see information like battery level, average speed, distance to you, and distance travelled.
- Press and hold a contact (Android) or swipe a contact to the left (iOS) to pause tracking or to remove that contact from your Buddy watch list. Your friends can also stop or pause tracking.
