1/ Get a reminder when you arrive or leave — Say you have to stop at the ATM on the way home and pick up some cash for something. While you could set a reminder for when you’re about to leave the office, but there’s a decent chance you’ll see the alert, swipe it away, walk out the door, and forget it.
Instead, try a geotagged reminder. Open the Reminders app, add a new reminder by tapping the Plus button at lower left (“Get cash!”), tap the little information icon (the i in the circle to the right) and toggle on ‘Remind me at a location’, then pick a location — in this case, you may even be able to search on ‘ATM’ to find a nearby cash machine. In my example, I typed in ‘Mamata’ so I’d remember to get a pack of their delicious ginger and walnut biscuits from Mamata Bakehouse in West Lynn (as if I’d forget, but a reasonable example – but what’s really interesting is that Apple Maps has a pretty comprehensive list of local businesses even for Auckland New Zealand) … You can set the reminder to trigger itself when you arrive at a certain location, or as you leave it.
2/ Send your location via text — Say you’re trying to meet up with a colleague downtown, and all she needs to know is where you are. You could try describing your location in a text, but there’s an easier, faster and much more precise way. You can text your location to a friend (even an Android-using friend): within your message thread in the Messages app, tap the Details button in the top-right corner of the screen, then tap Send My Current Location. Your friend will get a text message with your map coordinates. If your pal is using an iPhone or iPad, a snippet of a map with your pinpointed position will appear in the actual message thread, whereas Android users get a link they can open with Google Maps.
3/ Let your friends know you’re on your way — The iOS Find My Friends app is a great way to keep track of your friends and loved ones. Once you’ve added some iOS-using people to your Find My Friends list (assuming they’ve given you the OK, of course), you can track their locations and even get alerts when they leave their current location or arrive at a new one.
But you can also set up your own ‘geofence’ to let fellow Find My Friends users know when you’re on the move: launch the Find My Friends app, tap Me at the bottom of the screen, then tap Notify Friends. Add some names in the To field, then pick a Send My Location option: Right Now, When I Leave, or When I Arrive. Tap “Other” if you want to specify a location other than your current position.
There’s another way to do it: go back to the main Find My Friends screen, tap a name in your friend list, tap the “More…” button, then tap “Notify [name of friend].” Once again, you can then pick an option: Right Now, When I Leave, or When I Arrive. If you, say, want your family to know (for example) each and every time you’re heading home from work, or your colleagues back from lunch or whatever, just toggle on the Repeat Every Time setting.
4/ Know when it’s time to go — You don’t want to be late for that big meeting in the city, but you don’t want to be stuck cooling your heels because you’re too early, either. When’s the best time to head out? iOS can pick a precise departure time for you. Make sure you’ve added a place in the event’s Location field. As you type, search results from the Maps app should begin to appear. When you see the right one, tap it. Now you’ve added a location, scroll down to the event’s Second Alert field, tap it, and select Time to Leave. (There’s a good chance that Time to Leave is already the default alert setting on your iOS device – you can check by tapping Settings>Mail, Contacts, Calendars>Default Alert Times.)
When the time is right (basically, depending on how long iOS thinks it’ll take you to drive to your destination, factoring in traffic) your iPhone or iPad will ping you about 15 minutes before it’s time to hit the road.
Unfortunately, there’s no custom setting if you’re planning on walking or taking public transit.
Fun fact: If you check a geotagged-event on the Mac version of the Calendar app, you’ll see the weather forecast for the specific time and place of the event.
5/ Keep iOS from tracking you — Your iPhone (or iPad) keeps a list of your “frequent locations”—specific places you’ve been spending a lot of time at lately.
You can check your own list of regular hangouts by tapping Settings > Privacy > Location Services > System Services > Frequent Locations, and you’ll probably find entries for your home and office, as well as anywhere else you’ve been visiting on a regular basis. You can even tap on a place and see long entries marking your visits, complete with times and dates. According to Apple, your “frequent locations” list helps “provide useful location-related information,” presumably like commute times, nearby restaurants and the like.
If you’d rather not have your iPhone or iPad keep such close tabs on where you’ve been, just tap the Clear History button and toggle off the “Frequent Locations” setting.
Additional tip — While you are in the Privacy Settings>System Services, you can turn on Status Bar Icon and then you’ll see whenever Location Services is requesting your location. This twitch is right down the bottom of the System Services list.
These tips came from PC World.
Mac NZ 