Share a list as view-only
This is the most common case: you send your spots, and the other person can look at them but not change them.
- Open Google Maps, tap You, then open the list you want to share.
- Tap the Share icon. If the list is private, Google first offers to make it shareable.
- Copy the link or send it straight from the share sheet.
On a computer it works the same way from Saved in the left-hand menu: the three dots next to the list, then Share list.
Build a list together
For a friend to add places too, sharing the link is not enough: you have to invite them. In the list's share menu, choose Invite collaborators and send the invitation link.
Two things to know before you do:
- Everyone in the list sees the others' names and profile pictures, and who added which place.
- The list stays yours. If you delete it or stop sharing it, it disappears for everyone, with no copy left on their side.
The limits of a shared list
A Google Maps list is built to collect places, not to plan a trip. According to Google's help pages, saved lists can't hold more than 3,000 places, and beyond that places may not display correctly.
More importantly, the person who receives the list sees a column of names and pins on a map. Nothing tells them which order to visit in, or which places belong together on the same day. They have to work all of that out themselves.
Send a readable map with MyFavsMap
If you share your spots often, MyFavsMap lets you send something more useful than a list:
- An exact selection: all your favourites, a single region, a single category (say, restaurants in Lisbon) or the places you've already visited.
- A link that opens without an account: the other person sees an interactive map and the list, with a Google Maps button for each place. They can save your spots to their own favourites in one tap.
- Public or not: visible in the Community feed, or reachable only through the link.
- A full itinerary: you can also share a day-by-day itinerary, with navigation to each stop.
To plan a trip together in real time, MyFavsMap's shared trips (Explorer plan) let everyone add their places and itineraries to the same map, live.
Which method should you use?
- Sending a dozen spots to a friend: sharing a Google Maps list is enough.
- Filling a list with two or three people before you leave: Google Maps collaborators will do the job.
- Sending a big selection, or an actual trip plan: a sorted map and an itinerary will be far easier for the other person to use.
