Besides tracking you, Google is also reminding you who YOU can track

In a daily dose of everyday creep, Google is reminding you who you can track. You can also ask the Google Assistant where they are - because, that’s like normal.

Google Maps has started a new feature that will remind you of who all have shared their locations with you - the ones you already have location access to. (Pixabay)

Location sharing is a great safety feature and is good for keeping track of people who are important to you - like your family and close friends for whom you might be the ‘emergency contact'. Once many of us set up location sharing, we often forget all about it, as Android Police points out - it's easy to share your location deets with someone while you are out on a trip and then forget to turn that off once you are done.

To help with this, Google Maps has started a new feature that will remind you of who all have shared their locations with you - the ones you already have location access to.

These Google Maps notifications have started showing up recently and it shows you who you can keep a track of - which is honestly quite creepy. It would have been better if Google Maps would just remind the person whose location is being shared in the first place. 

Casually checking in on people - no big deal.  (Android Police )

Casually checking in on people - no big deal.  (Android Police )

It would be easier to set this feature up with the “intention of disabling it after a trip”, and as one might forget, this could be followed by a gentle reminder to check who can see where you are.

You can ask Google Assistant where someone is now and get a map snippet.  (Android Police )

You can ask Google Assistant where someone is now and get a map snippet.  (Android Police )

As the notification indicates, you can now ask the Google Assistant where people are. Asking - “Hey Google, where is (insert name)” now displays a Google Maps snippet with the person's location, as long as they have location sharing turned on. If the person you are “looking for” has not shared their location with you in the past, you can send a request from Google Assistant.

While this can work well for immediate family and VERY close friends, these new notifications should serve as reminders to check on your own settings to ensure that your location is shared only with people you really trust.