Glympse Mobile Application Review

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Technology is our best friend these days. It has made our life easy and will continue to make it easier as days pass by. For me, being connected with my family during long rides is quite an important thing, and the reason it’s important because my family feels safe when they get constant updates about my whereabouts. And this has been possible because of Glympse – gps - based location sharing mobile application and it’s free on Google Playstore. 

With the help of Glympse, you can let your family and friends know where you are and the best part, you can do that in real time – second by second. I’ve been using Glympse since the last two years and it makes complete sense to have it loaded on to your smartphone. Glympse has been designed to let your friends track you, only if you want them to. In fact, the app can let your friends track your progress towards them too.

So is Glympse one of those apps where you first head to YouTube and then type ‘How to’? Well, the answer is no. It’s pretty easy and user friendly. All you need to do is fire up the app and then head to the ‘Share Location’ option that you’ll find in the drop down section. Select your recipients (friends, family, and colleagues) and set the watch time (which max is 4 hours) and voila - An SMS/notification is sent to the selected recipient to track you. And this is where Glympse feels the best. Your friends or family don’t need to have the Glympse application installed on their smartphones. They can track you using a unique URL that they get via an SMS. Once clicked, they can either watch you on their mobile browser, or manually type that URL on the computer browser. And yes, there needs to be data reception on the phone. 

Glympse also lets you send personalised messages (like ‘I’m on my way’) with each location sharing option. The app also lets you request location from others. All you got to do is select ‘Request Glympse’ option and the select the number of the person whose real time location you want to see. Then there are options to create a group, set favourites and also see the past Glympses sent. The application also lets you see who’s tracking you and since when. So cool right? 

I’ve used Glympse for over 2 years now and I’m happy with the outcome. Yes, there are a couple of GPS based applications in the market, but none of them are as easy and user friendly as the Glympse. So what all does the Glympse help me do? Well, it lets my family know my exact location, it also lets Kapil know how far I’m from the shoot location and sometimes, it just feels nice to know that someone is really keeping a check on you. 

Pros: Very accurate, easy to use, free. Not creepy as Google Latitude 

Cons: Drains battery, 4 hours is the max watch time (it could be extended by 15mins each time though)