onX Adds Live Location Sharing to Hunt and Off-Road Apps

Anyone who's rolled out with a group of riders or a hunting party knows how fast a crew scatters. Somebody takes the scenic line, somebody else gets a rig stuck, and before long you're trading "where are you?" texts instead of covering ground. onX Maps has rolled out a Location Sharing feature on both its Hunt and Off-Road apps aimed squarely at that problem.

How It Works

The setup works a lot like Apple's location sharing. You share your position with other onX users in your party and see everyone on one shared map in real time. Up to 10 people can share with a group at a time on either app.

Refresh rates differ between the two. The Hunt app updates your position every five seconds; the Off-Road app refreshes every 15 seconds. If the app loses track of you, it drops a pin on your last known location and reports to the rest of your group the time elapsed since the last contact.

It's opt-in. You have to turn it on from the app's menu before anything is shared, so you're not broadcasting your primo hunting or riding spot by accident. As onX puts it, "When the trail spreads out, your crew does too... Location Sharing keeps the crew connected and informed by showing everyone's location on one shared map."

The Catches

The big limitation: it needs signal. The feature relies on cell service or Apple's satellite services to work, so it's most useful in front-country areas or anywhere coverage is solid. Deep in a dead zone, it won't help.

Privacy-wise, onX says location data isn't stored beyond your active session: "Once the session ends or you leave, all location data is permanently deleted and nothing is stored beyond your active session."

Access requires an onX Hunt Premium or Elite membership, or any onX Off-Road tier. For now, availability is limited to the U.S. and Canada.

For hunters, the safety angle is real—knowing where your partners are before you squeeze off a shot matters. For trail riders, it's a practical way to keep a wandering group together.