How to share your ETA in Apple Maps with Siri

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As you follow turn-by-turn driving directions in Apple Maps on your iPhone, iPad or iPod touch, you have the option to let others know your estimated time of arrival (ETA). That being said, however, responsible drivers shouldn’t really be taking their eyes off the wheel to tap through the menus. Thankfully, in iOS 14 and iPadOS 14, you can ask Siri to share your ETA, hands-free. In this tutorial, you’re going to learn how to share your ETA in Apple Maps with Siri.

ETA in Apple Maps

With the arrival of the iOS 13.1 update on September 24, 2019, Apple customers have gained the ability to share their ETA with one or more contacts. Sending the estimated time of arrival while your route is in progress is an awesome feature for letting those you’re meeting with know when you will arrive. On the dowide, as I said before, using it while navigating used to mean having to take your eyes off the wheel to engage in a multi-step process: tap the Share menu, choose the Share ETA command, select contacts and, lastly, tap Done.

How to share your ETA in Apple Maps without Siri

Apple was feeling your pain so they went on to add the ability to share ETAs in Maps throguh the Siri assistant. This helpful feature requires iOS 14 or iPadOS 14, which were previewed during Apple’s virtual WWDC presentation ahead of their public release on September 16, 2020.

How to share your ETA in Apple Maps with Siri

Follow these steps to send your ETA in Apple Maps via Siri to one or more contacts:

  1. Open the Maps app on your iPhone or iPod touch running the iOS 14.0 update or later or on your iPad with the iPadOS 14.0 software update or later.
  2. Start navigation in Maps. You can ask Siri to navigate to a location (“Give me driving directions home”, “Navigate to…” or similar) or do it manually by tapping and holding any spot on the map, then choose the option labeled with the text “Directions.” Be sure to choose driving mode because ETA sharing is only available when using driving directions.
  3. As you follow turn-by-turn driving directions for the selected location, you can optionally let others know your ETA by invoking Siri, they say something like: “Share my ETA”. When asked, tell the name(s) of the contact(s) you’d like to share your estimated time of arrival with.

And that’s how you do it!

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The first time you use this, you’ll see a privacy disclaimer clarifying that sharing your ETA with someone will also share the name and email addresses associated with your Apple ID.

share eta apple maps siri - privacy disclaimer

Apple Maps always gives you an ETA when you use the app for GPS navigation in driving mode. And if Siri is unavailalbe, you can use the Share menu in Maps to send that information to family, friends or coworkers so they know when they should expect you. And if your ETA changes because of a delay, it’ll be automatically updated so that everyone stays informed.

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And with Maps in iOS 14 and iPadOS 14, you can do that hands-free via Siri. This feature is unavailable in the Maps app on the Mac computers and Apple Watch smartwatches.