How to Share Your ETA in IOS 14.5 While Driving, Biking, or Walking
Share ETA is one of the best features in iOS 13 if you and your friends use Apple Maps. And once you update to iOS 14.5, the latest version of Apple’s mobile operating system, you can send ETAs to friends when you bike or walk. Take the cars .
The beauty of Share ETA is that it allows you to send automatic notifications to iOS or Android users who might need to know your arrival time, including any unexpected delays that might affect your trip. And if your friends are iOS users, they’ll also be able to see where you are on a live map if they’re really curious about what’s taking so long.
If you’ve never used Share ETA before, it’s easy. Open Apple Maps and navigate to your destination as usual. Select a method of travel (by default, as always, driving is used, but if necessary, click on the walking or cycling icon).
Once your routes are available and you’re ready to start your journey, tap on your destination (or the up arrow) at the bottom of the screen – the “route map” – and tap on the big Share ETA icon.
When you do, you will see a list of your most recent contacts (for easier sharing), as well as an icon that you can click to access any of your contacts.
Whoever you share your location with will receive an immediate notification (or text message if they’re on Android) that you’re on the go. IOS users will receive a short link to Apple Maps where they can see your progress. Android users will receive text messages if or when your ETA changes significantly due to unexpected delays.
However, I believe that your contact will not receive a notification that you have arrived at your destination, so do not expect them to appear once you get there. You will still have to catch them separately so they know you are coming.
You can also share your estimated arrival time with multiple people at once. And, if you make a mistake, or you no longer need to tell anyone your status updates about your whereabouts, just click the share link at the bottom of the on-screen instructions and click on the person to turn off the sharing.
You can always provide your estimated time of arrival for a specific destination.
If you want to get even more interesting, you can set up automatic ETA notifications whenever you travel to a specific location. The location you specify should just already be in your Apple Maps favorites (which includes your default home or work address). This is a useful trick if, say, you want your spouse to always know your arrival time when you are going home from something (or if you have a child and need to know their child for some extra peace of mind).
To customize it, open Apple Maps and click View All to the right of the Favorites heading. Click on the “i” icon to the right of any of the listed locations. You will now see the Share ETA box. Click on Add Person to do this. Now when you need to get a route to that location, it will automatically ping that person with your ETA.