Removing Location Sharing on Google Hangouts

Google Hangouts is an application that enables you to stay in touch with your friends and loved ones. You can use it to message your contacts, initiate a free voice or video call, and join an ongoing conversation with a group of people or an individual. It also allows you to share your location with others using the Location button on your app from the input text area. But is removing location sharing on Google Hangout possible?

How to Remove Location Sharing from Google Hangouts

You cannot remove location sharing from Google Hangouts Version 32 as of March 2020. Google discontinued the feature after updating the app. If you still have the function on your Android device, you can remove it by opening the Google Play Store, tap on My Apps & Games, find Hangouts from the list, and tap on Update.

Before the update, you could share your location by tapping on the Location button on your Android app. The app would perform a one-time ping of your area, mark it on Google Maps, and share the link with your contacts. In other cases, you would type the words “Where are you?” for example, into the text input area, which would then activate a prompt to share your position through Google Maps. After sending the link, the recipient would click on it and either get directions or view the destination.

Why Removing Location Sharing from Google Hangouts was Necessary

One of the probable reasons for removing the feature was because many users were not using it. But if you wanted to use it, you had to tap on the button and show people where you are. Furthermore, Google has had plans to discontinue the app since 2018. It all started by removing the SMS feature and custom ringtones from Hangouts.

If you are a Hangouts user, you may have to opt for real-time location sharing using Google Maps. You also have the option to share your destination from within the application using Google Messages. Google Messages has the same feature but hidden under the user interface. A manual way of doing it is to open Google Maps, choose a location, and share it over to Hangouts.

Stop and Block Location Sharing

To stop giving directions, you will have to open Google Maps, sign in to your account, select Location Sharing, and tap on Remove, next to the contact with whom you do not want to share your location. That will allow you to stop sharing your location with an individual, especially if you had shared it before.

Another option is to block location requests. You can do this by tapping No on Google Maps to deny a request or tap on Block to prevent you from sharing your locale and denying your friend from asking you for your location in the future. Perhaps a better way of removing location sharing on Google Hangouts is to block user accounts. When you block an account, the person will see you are online but will not send you messages, including location requests even from Google Maps.