Share your inReach MapShare with family (and make it better)

MapShare is Garmin's own page for sharing an inReach with family, and it is good. It shows your track and messages, it is simple to turn on, and it runs on your inReach plan. This guide shows how to set it up, then how to make it better by linking it to AdventureLive.

How do I turn on MapShare?

In your Garmin Explore account, on the web.

1. Sign in to Garmin Explore and open the MapShare tab.
2. Select the MapShare toggle. Once it is on, your link appears.
3. Open MapShare Settings to choose what viewers can do.

Garmin says live tracking and messaging need an active satellite subscription, so check that your plan is not suspended before you leave.

How do I add a password?

In MapShare Settings, set a password. Garmin's help says the password option restricts access, and Garmin's blog says followers need your link and the password if you set one. If you want to keep the page for family only, use a password. Anyone with the link and no password can open an open page.

Garmin's settings page says you can remove public access after the trip. Do that when you get home.

What does MapShare show my family?

According to Garmin, MapShare shows your planned routes, your live track points as you move, waypoints with notes, and your inReach messages. Viewers can reply to you or start a message if they have your link and the password, if you set one. In MapShare Settings you can also let viewers send you messages and request your location.

That is a lot, and for many trips it is enough. Be fair to it: it is the inReach's own page, it is simple and it is reliable. If you only want a family member to see a dot and send a message, MapShare does the job.

What is the difference between MapShare and LiveTrack?

They are two ways to share an inReach, and they are not the same thing as the LiveTrack on a Garmin watch.

Garmin's own inReach FAQ describes both. It says MapShare for inReach is "an alternative location tracking feature that gives friends and family the means to follow along". It says LiveTrack for inReach "provides a streamlined experience for loved ones to follow your location", with data such as distance, time and elevation. The same page says the tracking feature records track points and transmits them over the satellite network at a set interval, so for an inReach both features use the satellite tracking.

MapShare Settings let you allow viewers to send you messages and to locate you. Garmin also gives instructions for switching from MapShare to LiveTrack, so the two are options, not a one-way upgrade.

Two things to keep apart:

• LiveTrack for inReach is a Garmin feature for an inReach device.
• LiveTrack on a watch or bike computer in Garmin Connect shares an activity through your paired phone's data. It needs the phone to have signal, unless the watch has LTE. We explain it in Garmin LiveTrack with no phone signal.

We did not read a Garmin page that calls LiveTrack "the newer MapShare". Garmin presents them as two options. AdventureLive links your inReach through its MapShare address, so turn MapShare on for the link.

How do I make it better with AdventureLive?

MapShare shows where you are. AdventureLive adds what your family wants to know next.

• A 3D satellite map with the planned route, the line you have travelled and the dot.
• The weather where you are, now and for the next 48 hours.
• Safety alerts for strong wind and gales, freezing or severe cold, heat, heavy rain and thunderstorms, where you are and on the route ahead.
• "Seen 22 min ago, via inReach", and your check-ins in order.
• Progress by day and leg.
• Home contacts: up to five people get an email if you send a HELP message.
• One link that also takes a SPOT or Garmin LiveTrack, with the freshest position winning.

Followers open the link in any browser, with no app and no account, unless you choose approved people only.

How do I link my MapShare to AdventureLive?

1. Sign in on the web app with Google or an email link.
2. Plan a trip with a name, a start and an optional end.
3. Add a leg. Give it a GPX, or leave it with no route. With no route, followers see the dot and the line actually travelled.
4. In My trackers, choose Garmin inReach and paste your MapShare address, or just the name. Add the password if you set one.
5. Choose Link and test it. AdventureLive reads your MapShare page once and tells you when your last position was.
6. Send your family the trip link, and keep the MapShare link for backup.

Help: Link a tracker.

AdventureLive reads your tracker only while a trip is live, and no more often than every 4 minutes. The dot is only as fresh as your inReach's tracking interval. Messages you send to MapShare appear as check-ins on the trip page. Your MapShare address and password are never shown to anyone.

Can I also add LiveTrack or a SPOT to the same trip?

Yes. You can link several trackers, and the freshest position wins, so there is always one dot. A common choice is an inReach for the days off-grid and a watch's LiveTrack for days with signal. See Garmin LiveTrack.

What happens on SOS?

Two separate things. The rescue is Garmin Response's job: all Garmin plans include SOS messaging, and Garmin Response, a 24/7 staffed centre, coordinates the response. AdventureLive does not run rescues.

The email is AdventureLive's, and it is for HELP. Garmin's public MapShare feed leaves out SOS-mode points, so AdventureLive doesn't see an SOS. Name up to five home contacts. If a HELP message is sent during a trip, each gets an email with the time, the place on a map and the trip page. A cancel email follows if it is cancelled. Followers never see it. See Home contacts.

Is MapShare enough on its own?

Often yes. If your family just wants a dot and a message, use MapShare and stop there. Add AdventureLive when they want the weather where you are, safety alerts, the 3D map or the HELP emails, or when you carry more than one tracker. For a side-by-side look, read AdventureLive vs Garmin MapShare.

For the whole picture of devices, see inReach vs SPOT vs ZOLEO for expeditions. Plan your trip.