How to Share Apple Maps Guides with Anyone (iPhone, Android, Web)

Apple Maps Guides are collections of places — restaurants for a trip, coffee shops in your neighborhood, hidden gems in Tokyo. Sharing them with friends is straightforward on Apple devices but gets interesting when your recipient is on Android. Here's every way to share a guide in 2026.

Share from iPhone

1. Open Apple Maps
2. Tap Library (or the search bar then Guides)
3. Open the guide you want to share
4. Tap the Share icon (square with an upward arrow)
5. Pick AirDrop, Messages, Mail, or Copy Link

Share from Mac

Same flow: open the guide, click Share, choose a destination. On macOS, the share sheet includes AirDrop to nearby devices, Messages, Mail, and Notes.

Share from iPad or Apple Watch

iPad mirrors the iPhone flow. Apple Watch can share a guide to a contact via the Share menu after you tap and hold on the guide.

What the link looks like

Shared guides use a URL that looks like:

https://maps.apple.com/?ll=...&q=...&...

Or a shorter maps.apple branded URL. Both open natively on iPhone, iPad, Mac, and route to a web preview on other devices.

Can Android users open Apple Maps Guides?

Partially. An Apple Maps link opens in a browser on Android and shows a web preview with pins on a map — enough to see the places, but not to navigate natively.

For real usefulness on Android, convert the guide back to individual places. Use the reverse decoder to paste the Apple Maps Guide URL and get a list of places you can forward or save in Google Maps.

How to share a guide to a group

Messages, email, and shared Notes all work. For larger groups (travel planning, wedding guides, local meetups), paste the link into a shared iCloud Note or a Notion/Google Doc.

How to un-share

Apple Maps Guide links are not revocable — once a link exists, it keeps working. If you need privacy, don't share the link, share individual places via Messages instead.

Troubleshooting

"Couldn't open this guide"

Usually means the recipient is on a very old iOS version. Guides require iOS 14 or newer.

Places missing from the shared guide

Places that were added to your local library but not saved to the guide don't transfer. Re-open the guide on your device and verify every place is saved to the guide specifically.

Android recipient needs Google Maps versions

Use our reverse decoder to convert your Apple Maps Guide URL back to a list of Google Maps links you can send instead.

Bonus: create shareable guides from Google Maps saved places

If you're starting from a Google Maps list and want a shareable Apple Maps Guide, use GoToAppleMaps. Upload your Google Takeout CSV, get an Apple Maps Guide URL, then share that link with anyone.