Google Maps Adds Approval Controls for Incoming Location-Sharing Requests [APK Teardown]

Contents hide

What to know
Incoming location shares will wait for your approval
You can accept, decline, or block the request
Google Maps is preparing acceptance notifications

What to know

Google Maps is adding an approval flow for incoming location-sharing requests.
Recipients can review the request, then Accept, Decline, or Block it.
The feature appears in code from the unreleased Google Maps v26.43.00.1002020710 build.

Google Maps already supports location sharing and location-sharing requests. The broader capability is public, but the app is now preparing a more explicit approval workflow for people receiving those requests.

Our teardown of Google Maps v26.43.00.1002020710 found new strings covering pending incoming requests, identity disclosure, recipient controls, and follow-up notifications. We found this workflow in the code and have not surfaced it in the app yet.

About APK teardowns — An APK teardown works by reading the not-yet-shipped code inside a beta build, which lets us preview features a developer is working on before they’re announced. But work-in-progress code can change, stay hidden behind a server-side flag, or be scrapped before it ever reaches your phone.

Incoming location shares will wait for your approval

The new flow presents an incoming location share as a pending request. Google Maps can tell you that a person wants to share their location with you, while a matching notification provides the same explanation outside the app.

Code in Google Maps v26.43.00.1002020710 references both the pending request and its notification:

MOD_LIST_PENDING_INCOMING_SHARE_SUBTITLE = “Wants to share their location with you”

LOCATION_SHARING_NOTIFICATION_PENDING_INCOMING_HEADING = “”%1$s’s location””

LOCATION_SHARING_NOTIFICATION_PENDING_INCOMING_DESCRIPTION = “%1$s wants to share their location with you”

The wording indicates that the incoming share does not simply appear without context. Instead, Google Maps is building a recipient-facing review stage around it.

You can accept, decline, or block the request

Once you open a pending request, Google Maps presents three clear actions: Accept, Decline, and Block. That gives you a direct way to approve the share, dismiss it, or prevent the requester from proceeding.

MOD_PENDING_SHARE_ACCEPT_BUTTON = “Accept”

MOD_PENDING_SHARE_DECLINE_BUTTON = “Decline”

MOD_PENDING_SHARE_BLOCK_BUTTON = “Block”

Accepting also comes with an identity-disclosure warning. The dialog says your name and phone number will become visible to the requester in Google Maps and across other Google apps and services. An “Accepting as” label indicates that Maps will identify the account or identity being used for the approval.

MOD_PENDING_SHARE_ACCEPTING_AS_LABEL = “Accepting as”

MOD_PENDING_SHARE_ACCEPT_DIALOG_TITLE = “”Accept %1$s’s location share?””

MOD_PENDING_SHARE_ACCEPT_DIALOG_MESSAGE = “If you accept, your name and phone number will be visible to %1$s in Google Maps and across other Google apps and services”

Google Maps is preparing acceptance notifications

The build also contains a notification state for completed approvals. Its heading says the location share was accepted, while the accompanying description tells the user that the named person can now see their location.

LOCATION_SHARING_NOTIFICATION_PENDING_SHARE_ACCEPTED_HEADING = “Location share accepted”

LOCATION_SHARING_NOTIFICATION_PENDING_SHARE_ACCEPTED_DESCRIPTION = “%s can now see your location”

This incoming-request workflow is not available to users yet. We’ll watch future Google Maps builds for signs of its rollout.

Related on NerdsChalk