Google discontinues the app that displays the location of ‘trusted contacts’

Google will stop support for the Trusted Contacts app on December 1. With this app, users could set up contacts with whom the location could be shared, for emergencies, for example. Google redirects users to Google Maps.

Google has since removed the Trusted Contacts app from the Play Store. The company will notify users in an email about the changes and the trusted contacts dashboard will also notify users that the service will no longer be supported after December 1, 2020. “If the app is installed on your device, you can continue to use it until that date,” Google reports. After that date, contacts will no longer see the real-time location of the users.

The company reports that users can set ‘Location sharing’ on Google Maps to share their location with others. The operation is different. While Google Maps only allows users to choose who can see their location and for how long, Trusted Contacts also allowed the other to see if there had been any activity recently.

Then trusted contacts could request the user’s location. This request could be declined, but if the user did not decline after five minutes, the location was passed. Google introduced Trusted Contacts in 2016. It is not known why the service will stop.