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Family Location Sharing

The Family feature allows you to share your real-time location with trusted family members and friends. This enables you to see each other's locations on the map while maintaining full control over your privacy.

info

The Family feature is currently only available for self-hosted instances of Dawarich.

Overview​

With Family Location Sharing, you can:

  • Create a family group and invite members
  • Share your real-time location with family members
  • View family members' locations on the map
  • Control when and how long your location is shared
  • Leave or dissolve family groups at any time

Creating a Family​

To create a new family group:

  1. Navigate to Family from the main navigation menu
  2. Click Create Family
  3. Enter a name for your family group (up to 50 characters)
  4. Click Create

You will automatically become the owner of the family group.

Inviting Members​

As a family owner, you can invite others to join your family:

  1. Go to the Family page
  2. In the Pending Invitations section, find the invitation form
  3. Enter the email address of the person you want to invite
  4. Click Send Invitation

The system will generate a unique invitation link that you can share with the person. Invitations expire after a set period, and you can cancel pending invitations at any time.

tip

Share the invitation link directly with the person you're inviting. They will need to click the link to accept the invitation.

Accepting an Invitation​

When you receive a family invitation:

  1. Click on the invitation link
  2. If you have an account, log in
  3. Review the family details
  4. Click Accept to join the family

You can only be a member of one family at a time.

Managing Family Members​

The family details page shows all current members with their:

  • Email address
  • Role (Owner or Member)
  • Join date
  • Current location sharing status

Member Limits​

For cloud-hosted instances, families can have a maximum of 5 members (including pending invitations). Self-hosted instances have no member limit.

Location Sharing Settings​

Each family member controls their own location sharing. You can enable or disable sharing and choose a duration:

Duration Options​

  • Always (Permanent) - Share your location indefinitely until you disable it
  • 1 hour - Automatically stop sharing after 1 hour
  • 6 hours - Automatically stop sharing after 6 hours
  • 12 hours - Automatically stop sharing after 12 hours
  • 24 hours - Automatically stop sharing after 24 hours

Enabling Location Sharing​

  1. Go to the Family page
  2. Find your name in the members list
  3. Toggle the Location sharing switch to enable
  4. Select your preferred duration from the dropdown

Your location will be visible to other family members until you disable sharing or the duration expires.

Disabling Location Sharing​

Toggle the location sharing switch off at any time to immediately stop sharing your location with family members.

Viewing Family Members on the Map​

When family members have location sharing enabled:

  1. Go to the Map page
  2. Enable the Family layer from the map layers menu
  3. Family members' current locations will appear as markers on the map

The markers update in real-time via WebSocket connections, so you can see movement as it happens.

Location Status Indicators​

On the family page, you can see each member's sharing status:

  • Green pulsing dot - Location sharing is active
  • Gray dot - Location sharing is disabled

For members sharing with a time limit, you'll also see when their sharing will expire.

Leaving a Family​

If you're a member (not the owner), you can leave a family at any time:

  1. Go to the Family page
  2. Click Leave Family
  3. Confirm your decision

Your location will immediately stop being shared with family members.

Deleting a Family​

As the family owner, you can delete the family group:

  1. Ensure all members have left the family (except yourself)
  2. Click Delete on the family page
  3. Confirm the deletion
warning

You cannot delete a family that still has other members. Remove all members first before deleting the family.

Privacy Considerations​

Family location sharing is designed with privacy in mind:

  • You control your sharing - Only you can enable sharing of your location
  • Duration limits - Use time-limited sharing for temporary situations
  • Real-time only - Family members only see your current location, not your historical location data
  • Instant disable - Stop sharing immediately at any time
  • No persistence - When sharing is disabled, your location data is no longer visible to family members

Troubleshooting​

Invitations have an expiration period. Ask the family owner to send a new invitation.

Can't join family​

You can only be a member of one family at a time. Leave your current family before joining a new one.

Family member locations not showing​

  • Ensure the family member has location sharing enabled
  • Check that you have the Family layer enabled on the map
  • Verify that the member's sharing hasn't expired

Real-time updates not working​

Family locations use WebSocket connections for real-time updates. If locations aren't updating:

  • Check your browser's WebSocket support
  • Verify your network allows WebSocket connections
  • Try refreshing the page