Frequently Asked
Questions

Locwire is a real-time location sharing mobile app that lets you create and join private groups called Wires. Once you're inside a Wire, every member appears on a shared live map so you can always see where everyone is — no phone calls, no texts needed.

The app does three core things: it shows everyone's live position on a map, it tracks each person's journey in real time as they travel, and it saves each trip as a history log for up to 7 days. Location is accessed using either GPS (satellite-based) or GPRS (cell-tower-based), and the maps are powered by Apple Maps on iOS and Google Maps on both iOS and Android.

Yes — Locwire's core features are completely free. You can download the app, create a Locwire account, create or join a Wire, share your live location with other members, track trips in real time, and view your 7-day trip history all at no cost.

There are no hidden fees, no mandatory subscriptions, and no credit card is ever required. The app is free to download from both the App Store and Google Play.

Creating an account takes less than a minute:

Locwire is available on:

• iOS — iPhone and iPad running iOS 14 or later. Uses Apple Maps as the primary mapping layer.
• Android — Devices running Android 8.0 (Oreo) or later. Uses Google Maps as the mapping layer.

Members of the same Wire can be on different devices and operating systems without any issues — an iPhone user and an Android user in the same Wire will see each other on the map just as clearly.

A web version of Locwire is not currently available. Location sharing requires the mobile app to function.

Yes — Locwire works in virtually every country where Apple Maps and Google Maps are available, which covers almost the entire world. As long as you have a mobile data connection (or Wi-Fi), the app will function.

GPS positioning works globally by nature, since it relies on satellite signals rather than local infrastructure. GPRS fallback depends on your mobile carrier's network coverage in your area.

Members of a Wire don't need to be in the same country. If you're travelling internationally and your family is back home, they'll still see you on the shared map as long as you have a data connection.

Locwire is designed to be data-efficient. Location coordinates transmitted between Wire members are small data packets — sharing your live location typically uses roughly 2–5 MB per hour for location data alone.

Additional data is used for:

• Map tile loading (Apple Maps / Google Maps) — varies by how much you pan and zoom
• In-app messaging — minimal, text-only packets
• App updates and trip syncing — occasional background usage

Live location sharing requires an active internet connection (mobile data or Wi-Fi), because your coordinates need to be sent to Locwire's servers to appear on other members' maps. Without internet, other Wire members won't see your position update.

However, your device continues recording your location internally even if connectivity drops. When you reconnect, your trip path is synced and your position updates on the shared map.

GPS positioning itself does not require internet — your device can calculate its own location from satellites even offline. Only the sharing of that position with your Wire requires connectivity.

Inside any Wire you've created, tap the Invite Members button to generate a shareable invite link or code. You can send this via any messaging app — WhatsApp, iMessage, email, or even a regular SMS.

When your contact taps the link, they'll be directed to the App Store or Google Play to download Locwire. Once they create a free account and confirm their email, tapping the link again automatically adds them to your Wire.

The invite code is permanent and can be shared with multiple people. There's no expiry unless you manually revoke it from the Wire settings.

A Wire is Locwire's name for a private, shared location group. Think of it as a room on a shared map — everyone who's inside the room can see everyone else's live position.

When you create a Wire, you get a unique invite code (like WX-4821). Share that code with anyone you want to track with, and once they join, they appear as a named pin on the Wire's live map. Every member sees every other member in real time.

Wires are flexible by design. You might have:

• A Family Wire for your household to track daily commutes and school runs
• A Friends Wire for a road trip or festival
• A Work Wire for a field team spread across a city
• A Travel Wire for a group holiday where people split up during the day

You can be in multiple Wires at the same time, and each Wire only sees the members who have explicitly joined it.

As the creator, you are automatically the Wire's admin, with full control over settings, membership, and deletion.

You can join a Wire in two ways:

• Via invite link — tap the shareable link sent to you by the Wire admin. If you're already logged into Locwire, you'll be added to the Wire automatically.
• Via invite code — open the app, go to the Wires tab, tap Join Wire, and type in the alphanumeric code (e.g. WX-4821) shared by the admin.

Once you join, you'll appear on the Wire's live map immediately. Other members will see a notification that you've joined.

A single Wire can support multiple members simultaneously, making it practical for families, friend groups, and small teams. All members share the same live map view and can see each other in real time.

For very large groups (such as corporate fleets or school trip cohorts), we recommend creating multiple Wires and assigning members to relevant sub-groups for a cleaner map view. Contact us at support@locwire.com for enterprise or high-volume use cases.

Yes, absolutely. You can be a member of multiple Wires simultaneously — for example, a Family Wire and a Work Wire at the same time.

Your live location will be visible in all Wires you are currently active in. If you want to be visible in some Wires but not others, you can pause location sharing per-Wire individually from the Wire's settings screen.

Each Wire operates independently — members of your Family Wire cannot see members of your Work Wire and vice versa unless the same person has joined both.

Only the members of the specific Wire you've joined can see your location — and only while location sharing is active. Locwire staff cannot see your location. Users outside the Wire cannot see your location. People who have the invite code but haven't joined yet cannot see your location.

Location sharing within a Wire is also mutual — if you can see someone's location, they can see yours. There is no one-way surveillance mode within a Wire.

Yes — Wire admins can edit the Wire name, description, and colour at any time. Go to the Wire's map screen, tap the Wire name at the top, and select Wire Settings.

Note that editing the Wire name does not change the invite code. Existing members who've already joined will see the updated name automatically.

Only the Wire admin can remove members. To do so, go to Wire Settings → Members, tap the member you want to remove, and select Remove from Wire.

The removed member's location pin will disappear from the map immediately. They will receive an in-app notification that they've been removed. They cannot rejoin unless you send them a new invite or share the current invite code with them again.

If you want to prevent anyone from joining with the existing code, you can also regenerate the Wire's invite code from Wire Settings, which invalidates the old one.

To leave a Wire, go to the Wire's map screen, tap the settings icon, and select Leave Wire. Your location pin will be removed from the Wire map immediately and other members will see that you've left.

Leaving a Wire does not delete your Locwire account or affect any other Wires you're part of.

If the Wire has only one admin (the account being deleted), the Wire is automatically disbanded. All members are removed and notified. The Wire's invite code is invalidated.

If the Wire has co-admins, the Wire continues operating normally — the deleted account's pin simply disappears from the map and the remaining admin(s) retain full control.

We strongly recommend transferring Wire admin rights before deleting your account. You can do this in Wire Settings → Members → [Member name] → Make Admin.

Locwire updates location positions on the shared map every few seconds when you're moving. The update frequency adapts intelligently:

• While moving — high-frequency updates every 3–5 seconds to accurately trace your route
• While stationary — reduced frequency updates (every 30–60 seconds) to preserve battery life
• Background mode — continues updating at a moderate frequency even when the app is not in the foreground

These are two different technologies your phone uses to determine where you are:

• GPS (Global Positioning System) — uses signals from satellites orbiting the Earth. Highly accurate (typically within 3–10 metres), works anywhere with a clear view of the sky, and doesn't require a mobile network. Ideal for outdoor tracking, open roads, parks, and travel.
• GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) — uses your mobile carrier's cell towers to estimate your location by triangulating signals between nearby towers. Less accurate than GPS (roughly 50–300 metres depending on tower density), but works indoors, in basements, tunnels, and areas where GPS signals are blocked.

Locwire uses both modes. Your device automatically selects the best available method — GPS when outdoors and unobstructed, GPRS when GPS is unavailable. You don't need to switch manually; the transition is seamless.

Yes. You can pause your location sharing in any Wire without leaving it. Your pin will disappear from the map and other members will see a status showing that your location is paused. You can still view others' locations on the map while yours is paused.

To pause, tap your profile icon within the Wire map, then toggle Pause My Location. Resume sharing at any time with a single tap. Your location history during the paused period is not recorded.

Yes — when you grant Locwire "Always Allow" location permission, your location continues to update in the background even when the app is not open on screen. This is what allows continuous trip tracking and makes your pin stay live on other members' maps throughout the day.

If you've only granted "While Using App" permission, your location will stop updating as soon as you switch away from Locwire.

For best results, we recommend:

• iOS: Settings → Locwire → Location → Always
• Android: Settings → Apps → Locwire → Permissions → Location → Allow all the time

There are a few common reasons a pin might appear inaccurate or stopped:

• No internet connection — the member's phone can't send location updates without data. Their last known position stays frozen until they reconnect.
• GPS switched to GPRS — if they're indoors or in an area with poor satellite reception, the fallback GPRS accuracy of 50–300 metres may make their pin appear offset from their real location.
• Battery optimisation killing the app — some Android phones aggressively stop background apps. The member should exclude Locwire from battery saver settings.
• Location permissions revoked — if the member changed their location permission to "While Using" or denied it, updates will stop when they're not in the app.

The timestamp beneath each member's name on the map shows when their location was last received — this helps diagnose whether the issue is a connection problem or a permissions issue.

Yes — tap any member's pin on the Wire map to open their profile card. From there, you'll see a Trip History option that shows their saved journeys from the past 7 days, including route paths, timestamps, and stop points.

This history is only visible to members of the same Wire. You cannot access another user's trip history unless you're both in a shared Wire together.

Each member can also view their own trip history in full detail from their personal profile inside the app.

Each member's pin on the Wire map shows their current status beneath their name:

• Speed (km/h or mph) — calculated from consecutive GPS/GPRS position updates. Updates in near real time as they speed up or slow down.
• Stationary — shown when speed drops below ~2 km/h for more than a minute
• Direction arrow — the pin rotates to indicate the direction of travel based on their heading from GPS
• Last seen timestamp — when the map hasn't received a recent update, the time since the last update is shown instead of speed

Speed is derived from GPS positioning and is most accurate when the device has a strong satellite lock. GPRS-based speed estimates are less precise due to lower positional accuracy.

Yes — Locwire supports place-based alerts (sometimes called geofence alerts). You can set a location on the map — Home, School, Office, or any custom address — and choose to be notified when any Wire member arrives at or departs from that location.

To set up a place alert: tap Places in the Wire settings, tap + Add Place, search for or pin a location on the map, set the alert radius, and choose whether you want arrival alerts, departure alerts, or both.

Place alerts work in the background and will notify you even if the Locwire app is closed, as long as you've granted "Always Allow" location permission and push notifications are enabled.

In dense urban areas like city centres, GPS accuracy can be affected by the "urban canyon" effect — tall buildings blocking or reflecting satellite signals. In these conditions, your device may show a position that's slightly offset from your actual location (typically 10–30 metres).

Locwire mitigates this by combining GPS with GPRS cell-tower data and, on modern devices, Wi-Fi-assisted positioning (where available). This hybrid approach keeps accuracy reasonable in most city environments.

For most family and travel use cases — knowing someone is at a particular part of town, confirming they've reached their destination, tracking a commute — the accuracy is more than sufficient even in busy urban settings.

Continuous GPS tracking does use battery, but Locwire is optimised to minimise this impact:

• When you're stationary, the app automatically reduces GPS polling frequency, which cuts battery usage significantly
• GPRS location uses considerably less battery than GPS, so the automatic fallback also helps conserve power
• The app respects iOS and Android low-power mode signals and adjusts accordingly

In practice, typical users see around 5–10% additional battery usage per day with Locwire running in the background. Heavier use — active map viewing and frequent trips — will be higher.

Tips to conserve battery: keep your screen off while Locwire runs in the background, use GPRS mode in low-activity periods, and use Wi-Fi when at home so GPS isn't needed for GPRS triangulation.

It depends on which platform you're using:

• iOS (iPhone / iPad) — Locwire uses Apple Maps as the default map layer. This provides native, smooth rendering and excellent integration with iPhone's location system.
• Android — Locwire uses Google Maps, which is the standard and most comprehensive mapping service on Android.

On iOS, you may also have the option to switch the map layer to Google Maps if you prefer it, depending on the version of the app you're running. Check your app settings under Settings → Map Preferences.

Regardless of which map layer is displayed, the underlying location technology (GPS / GPRS) and the Wire location sharing features work identically on both platforms.

Yes. Inside any Wire map view, tap the layer icon (usually in the top right corner of the map) to toggle between available map styles. Depending on your device's map provider, you may have access to:

• Standard — the default street map with roads, labels, and points of interest
• Satellite — aerial/satellite imagery for a ground-truth view
• Hybrid — satellite imagery with road and label overlays
• Terrain — topographic view showing elevation and landscape features (useful for trekking or outdoor activities)

Map style is a personal preference — it only changes the visual layer for your view and doesn't affect how other Wire members see the map.

Locwire does not send your personal information — your name, email address, or Wire membership — to Apple or Google. The Apple Maps and Google Maps SDKs are used only as a rendering layer to display the map tiles and routes on your screen.

Apple and Google may independently collect certain technical data as part of their mapping SDKs (such as anonymous map usage telemetry). This is governed by their own privacy policies, which you can review at apple.com/privacy and policies.google.com/privacy respectively.

Locwire controls and stores your Wire location data on our own secure servers — it is not passed to or visible to Apple or Google.

Yes — tap any member's pin on the Wire map to open their profile card, then tap the Navigate button. This launches the native maps app on your device (Apple Maps on iOS, Google Maps on Android) with turn-by-turn directions from your current location to theirs.

Since the member's location is live, the destination in your navigation will be as accurate as their most recent location update. Keep in mind that if they're moving, the destination won't update dynamically inside the navigation app — you may need to re-tap the Navigate button to refresh the destination as they move.

Map tile coverage (the visual map you see) depends on Apple Maps and Google Maps, which together cover virtually every country and region in the world. Remote or rural areas may have less detailed road mapping, but the satellite view typically still works.

GPS positioning itself works globally — satellites cover the entire Earth's surface. So even in areas where the map detail is sparse, your location pin will still appear at the correct coordinates.

If you're planning activities in a remote area with limited mobile connectivity, we recommend pre-loading the map area while on Wi-Fi beforehand.

Yes. Tap the Fit All button (the group icon in the bottom toolbar of the map) to automatically zoom and pan the map to a view that includes all active Wire members simultaneously. This is especially useful when members are spread across a large area.

Each member appears as a uniquely coloured pin with their display name, current speed, and an accuracy circle showing the approximate precision of their location reading. Members who have paused their location or are offline appear with a greyed-out pin.

Yes — long-press anywhere on the Wire map to drop a location pin. You can label it and share it with all Wire members as a map message. A notification is sent to all members with the pinned location, which also appears on their map view temporarily.

This is useful for meeting points — "Meet us here for lunch", "Parking spot is here", "Emergency stop location" — without having to describe the address in words.

Currently, Locwire is a mobile-only application. The Wire map is not available in a web browser. All location sharing, map viewing, and trip history access require the mobile app on iOS or Android.

We understand the value of a desktop view — particularly for team or family administrators who prefer a larger screen — and are actively exploring a web companion feature for a future release. Follow our updates at locwire.com to stay informed.

Trip history is Locwire's automatic journey recorder. Whenever you move with location sharing active inside a Wire, Locwire records your route in real time. This creates a structured trip log that captures:

• The full path you travelled, plotted on the map as a route line
• Departure and arrival times with timestamps
• Any stops you made along the way — location, arrival time, and how long you stayed
• Your average and peak speed during each segment of the journey
• Total distance covered

You don't need to start or stop recording manually. Locwire detects movement automatically and creates a new trip entry when you begin moving and closes it when you've been stationary for a set period.

All trips are stored for 7 days and are then permanently and automatically deleted. They are accessible to other members of your shared Wire during that 7-day window.

Trip history is retained for exactly 7 calendar days from the date of the trip. After 7 days, trips are permanently and automatically deleted from Locwire's servers — there is no manual step required.

This 7-day window applies to all users and cannot be extended. It is designed to balance useful recall (reviewing recent journeys) with privacy (not building long-term movement profiles).

Yes. Go to any member's trip history and tap a specific trip to open it. You'll see the full route drawn on the map. Tap Replay Trip to animate the journey — a pin moves along the recorded route, showing the path taken with timestamps at key points.

You can control the replay speed (1×, 2×, 4×) and pause at any point to examine a specific location or stop. Tap any stop point on the route to see how long the person stayed and what the stop location was.

Yes — trip history is visible to all members of the Wire you were active in when the trip was recorded. This is intentional: location sharing in a Wire is mutual and transparent, and trip history extends that transparency backwards in time.

If you do not want others to see a specific trip, you can delete individual trips from your history. Go to your trip history, swipe left on the trip, and tap Delete.

Trips recorded while you've paused location sharing are not stored and are therefore not visible to anyone.

Yes — Locwire handles the GPS-to-GPRS transition automatically and your trip recording continues uninterrupted. The trip log notes which mode was used for each segment of the journey.

Sections of the trip recorded in GPRS mode may show slightly less precise route paths on the map compared to GPS-recorded sections, but the journey will still be complete and the timestamps and distance figures will remain accurate.

This means that trips through tunnels, underground car parks, or large buildings are still fully recorded — they just show the approximate path rather than a pixel-perfect route for those sections.

Open Profile → Trip History, find the trip you want to remove, and either swipe left on it (iOS) or long-press (Android) to reveal the Delete option. Tap Delete Trip and confirm.

Deletion is immediate and permanent — the trip is removed from your history and is no longer visible to any Wire member. This action cannot be undone.

Yes — tap into any trip in your history, then tap the Share / Export button. You can export trips as:

• GPX file — standard GPS exchange format, compatible with Google Maps, Strava, Komoot, and most mapping software
• Image snapshot — a static map image showing the route, suitable for sharing or saving

Remember that trips are automatically deleted after 7 days — export any trips you want to keep before the deletion window closes.

A trip is split into separate entries when Locwire detects that you were stationary for more than approximately 15 minutes. This threshold is used to distinguish a pause in an ongoing journey from a genuine stop that marks the end of one trip and the start of another.

Common reasons for a trip splitting include:

• A long stop at a petrol station, rest area, or lunch break mid-journey
• The app losing connectivity for an extended period and resuming later
• Manually pausing and resuming location sharing mid-trip

Both segments will appear in your trip history for that day, one after the other. You can view each separately or tap the shared date header to see them on the same map simultaneously.

No. Trip history is only recorded while you are an active, location-sharing member of a Wire. Trips made before you joined a Wire — or trips made while your location was paused — are not recorded or visible in history.

Similarly, when a new member joins a Wire, existing members cannot see that new member's location history from before they joined. History starts from the moment of joining.

Yes. All location data transmitted between your device and Locwire's servers is encrypted using TLS 1.3 (Transport Layer Security), the current industry standard for secure data transmission — the same protocol used by banks and financial institutions.

Data stored on our servers (trip history, account details, Wire membership) is encrypted at rest using AES-256 encryption. Access to raw data is restricted to authorised engineering staff only, under strict access control policies.

Locwire does not sell, trade, or rent your location data to advertisers, data brokers, or third parties. Your location is shared only with members of your Wire, and only while you have active location sharing enabled.

Locwire employees do not routinely access individual users' location data or trip history. Access to raw user data is strictly controlled and limited to authorised engineers for purposes of diagnosing technical issues, and only with appropriate internal authorisation.

Importantly, live GPS/GPRS coordinates are never stored on Locwire's servers — they are streamed in real time between Wire members and exist only in device memory. There is no stored copy of your live location that anyone could look up.

Trip history (the structured logs) is stored on our servers for 7 days and is subject to the same access restrictions. We never use trip data for advertising profiling or sell it to third parties.

If you feel uncomfortable with how your location is being used by someone in a Wire, take these steps immediately:

1. Pause your location — tap your profile icon in the Wire and toggle Pause My Location. Your pin disappears from the map instantly.
2. Leave the Wire — go to Wire Settings → Leave Wire. You will be removed from the map immediately and cannot be tracked through that Wire.
3. Block the user — if the person is known to you and you have concerns beyond this app, contact local authorities. Locwire can provide assistance to law enforcement with appropriate legal process.
4. Report the Wire — tap the three-dot menu on any Wire and select Report Wire. Our team will review the report within 24 hours.

You can request full data deletion in three ways:

• In-app — Settings → Privacy → Delete My Account and All Data
• By email — send a request to privacy@locwire.com from your registered email address
• Web form — visit locwire.com/data-deletion

All personal data — account information, trip history, Wire membership, messages, and device data — is permanently deleted within 45 days of a verified request. You'll receive a confirmation email when deletion is complete.

Trip history is also automatically deleted every 7 days regardless of any deletion request, so the most sensitive location data has a very short lifecycle by design.

Locwire is designed for families and is well-suited for parents who want to know where their children are throughout the day — tracking school commutes, after-school activities, and evening outings. Many families use it for exactly this purpose.

Locwire requires an account with a verified email address. Users must be at least 13 years old to create their own account. For children under 13, a parent or guardian should manage the account and device.

We recommend having an open conversation with children about location sharing and how the app works. Locwire shows users when their location is active, so it is not a covert tracking tool — it works best as a transparent, consensual family safety layer.

No. Joining a Wire is always a voluntary, active action. You must personally tap an invite link or manually enter an invite code in the app to join a Wire. Nobody can add you remotely without your participation.

When you join a Wire, you receive an in-app notification confirming which Wire you've joined and who the admin is. You can leave at any time with a single tap.

Yes. Locwire is designed and operated in compliance with applicable data protection regulations, including:

• GDPR (EU General Data Protection Regulation)
• DPDPA 2023 (India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act)
• App Store and Google Play data privacy policies

This includes honouring your rights to access, correct, export, and delete your personal data at any time. Our Data Deletion Policy (available at locwire.com/data-deletion) details exactly how each type of data is handled and deleted.

In the unlikely event that Locwire ceases operations, we are committed to giving users at least 90 days' advance notice via email and in-app notifications. During this period, you would have the opportunity to export any data you wish to retain.

Upon service termination, all user data — including accounts, trip history, Wire membership, and messages — would be permanently and irreversibly deleted from our servers. Data would not be sold to or transferred to any third party as part of a shutdown.

Yes — your display name (the name other Wire members see on the map) can be any nickname or pseudonym you choose. You are not required to use your real name.

However, your email address is required for account creation and verification. This email is only visible to Locwire and is not shown to other Wire members. On the Wire map, other members only see your chosen display name and profile photo (if you've added one).

Yes — all data sent by Locwire is encrypted using TLS 1.3, which means even if you're on a public or potentially monitored Wi-Fi network, your location data and login credentials are protected in transit and cannot be intercepted in readable form.

As with any app, we recommend using a trusted network when possible and enabling two-factor authentication on your account (available in Settings → Security) for an extra layer of protection.

On the login screen, tap Forgot Password? and enter your registered email address. You'll receive a password reset link within a few minutes. Tap the link, enter your new password, and you're back in.

If you don't see the reset email, check your spam or junk folder. The reset link expires after 30 minutes for security — if it's expired, repeat the process to get a fresh link.

If you've lost access to your registered email address, contact us at support@locwire.com and we'll assist you with identity verification and account recovery.

Your Locwire account can be logged into one active device at a time. If you sign in on a new device, you'll be signed out on the previous one. Your Wires, settings, and trip history remain intact and sync to the new device automatically.

If you're upgrading to a new phone, simply install Locwire on the new device, log in with your existing credentials, and everything will be restored. No manual data transfer is needed.

Go to Settings → Profile to edit your display name, profile photo, or any other account details. Changes sync instantly across all Wires — other members will see your updated name and photo on the map in real time.

If your location isn't updating on the map, run through this checklist:

If none of these resolve the issue, try logging out and back in. If the problem persists, contact support@locwire.com with your device model and OS version.

Updates are distributed through the App Store (iOS) and Google Play (Android). To update manually, open your device's app store, search for Locwire, and tap Update if one is available.

We recommend enabling automatic app updates so you always have the latest version with the newest features and security patches. On iOS: Settings → App Store → App Updates (toggle on). On Android: Play Store → Settings → Auto-update apps.

You can report bugs through any of these channels:

• In-app — Settings → Help → Report a Problem. This includes your device info automatically, making it easier for our team to diagnose.
• Email — support@locwire.com. Include your device model, OS version, app version (Settings → About), and a description of what happened.
• App Store / Play Store reviews — we read all reviews and respond to bug reports directly.

Our support team aims to respond within 24 hours on business days. Critical bugs affecting location sharing are treated as high priority and addressed as quickly as possible.

To permanently delete your account: go to Settings → Privacy → Delete My Account, read the confirmation, and tap Delete Permanently. You'll be asked to re-enter your password to confirm.

Once initiated, your account and all associated data — trip history, Wire membership, messages, and profile — will be permanently deleted within 45 days. You'll receive a confirmation email when deletion is complete.