Locaty - GPS Location Share

Review by eFreeware

Keeping track of the people you care about usually means a group chat full of "where are you?" messages, or an app that asks everyone to hand over their location permanently. Neither is a good arrangement. Locaty, from XFree Dev Team, is built around a different idea: a small circle of contacts who can see each other on a map, but only while each person chooses to share.

The app sits in the Maps & Navigation category on Google Play and is free to download. It has been installed more than 100,000 times and holds a 3.8 average from 246 ratings, with ads and in-app purchases present. It was released on May 8, 2026 and last updated on June 9, 2026.

What makes it interesting to me is the consent model rather than the map itself. Sharing is described as something a member starts deliberately, with a persistent notification visible while it runs, and something anyone can switch off for a given contact straight away. That framing shapes everything else in the app, and it is the reason I would look at Locaty before a general-purpose messaging app for this job.

A live map that each member controls

The core of Locaty is a live map showing the members of your circle. Each person decides their own visibility, and sharing can be turned on or off at any time. So the map is not a permanent window into anyone's day; it reflects who has chosen to be visible at that moment.

Contacts are added by exchanging unique Secure Codes. That gives the app a slightly more deliberate feel than the usual address book import, and it fits the way the rest of the app works: you add the people you actually want in your circle, one by one. Visibility is set per contact, so you choose who sees your location.

For a household where one person does the school run and another handles evening pickups, or for a couple who split errands across a city, that combination is the useful part. Everyone can check in on the map when it matters, and nobody has to leave a session running all day. The developer's emphasis on consent-based sharing is the feature I would weigh most heavily when deciding whether this belongs on my phone.

Arrival alerts and zones that do the watching

Alert zones let you draw areas on the map for places that matter — home, an office, a gym, or anywhere else you choose. When a circle member arrives in or leaves one of those zones, the app notifies you. Instead of checking the map repeatedly, you set the boundary once and let the notification come to you.

This is the part of Locaty I would expect to carry the most day-to-day weight. A parent who wants to know a child has reached home, or someone coordinating a shared apartment where flatmates come and go, gets a signal without needing to keep a map open. The zones are drawn by you, so the app watches the places you have decided are worth watching rather than making assumptions.

It is worth remembering that a zone alert depends on the other person sharing at that moment. The notification is a report of what the app can see, not a guarantee about where someone is. That is consistent with how the rest of Locaty behaves, and it is the trade-off you accept in exchange for the visibility controls.

Maps, transit layers and your own trip history

Beyond the circle features, Locaty includes a set of map tools: you can switch between map types, browse subway and transit maps, and look up nearby points of interest such as restaurants, parks, ATMs and public services. Navigation also includes a compass and live altitude. None of this is unusual on its own, but having it in the same app as the sharing features saves moving between tools.

The location history section works on your own movements rather than anyone else's. It keeps detailed logs with start and end points, distance traveled, timestamps and a route visualization, and you can filter by date to find a particular trip. I can see this being handy for expense claims, mileage records or simply settling an argument about how far a walk actually was.

The altitude display and compass are the kind of additions that matter mainly to people who spend time outdoors — hikers, cyclists, runners on unfamiliar routes. They are small features, but they suggest the app is meant to be used while you are out and about, not only checked from a desk.

Getting your circle set up

Setup starts with contacts. Locaty uses Secure Codes exchanged between people, so the first step is sharing a code with each person you want in your circle. Secure Codes are exchanged between people, so I would plan on adding members deliberately, one at a time.

The other thing to understand before you begin is how sharing sessions work. Location sharing only operates while someone has explicitly started an active session, and a persistent notification appears on screen for as long as that session lasts. Anyone can end it at any time, and sharing can be stopped for a specific contact immediately. If you are the person setting the app up for a family, it is worth explaining that model to everyone involved, because the app will not share anything on its own.

The app is free with ads and in-app purchases. I would treat that as part of the deal when deciding whether to install it, alongside the consent model that defines how the sharing actually works.

Where Locaty fits best

Locaty looks best suited to small, known groups: families with teenagers, couples, close friends who travel together, or flatmates who want a light way to coordinate. These are situations where a handful of people genuinely want to see each other's positions sometimes, and where the ability to switch sharing off again matters as much as the ability to switch it on.

It also suits anyone who wants the navigation extras in the same place — transit maps, nearby services, a compass, altitude, and a personal trip log. If you already reach for a maps app regularly, those tools give Locaty a second reason to stay installed beyond the circle features.

The app is rated for Everyone, and the free download with ads and in-app purchases keeps the barrier to trying it low. The 3.8 average from 246 ratings suggests a mixed reception so far, which is not unusual for an app released only a month before its most recent update.

What I would tell a friend

Locaty is a focused tool, and that focus is its strength. It handles a live circle map, per-contact sharing controls, arrival and departure alerts, transit and map layers, a personal location history, and a compass with altitude, all inside a free app with a clear consent model. For a household or a tight group of friends, that combination covers a real need without demanding permanent visibility from anyone.

I would recommend it to people who want occasional, mutual check-ins rather than continuous tracking, and who are comfortable adding contacts through Secure Codes. The sharing model means the app only shows what members have chosen to share at that moment — which is exactly the point.

If you are looking for a way to keep a small circle loosely connected while traveling, running errands or getting home at different times, Locaty is worth trying. Download it, set up your codes with the people who matter, and draw your first zone.