Smartphone technologies that reveal a person’s location have become increasingly common, with mixed implications for intimate relationships. Some individuals use location sharing to reduce anxiety or enhance safety, while others view it as an invasion of privacy. This study explores how location sharing affects intimate partner relationships and examines whether personality traits predict perceived outcomes. Participants (N = 238) completed demographic questions, the Big Five Inventory (BFI), and a custom survey assessing voluntary and nonconsensual location sharing. Most participants reported voluntarily using location-sharing apps, but notable proportions also admitted to tracking a partner without consent or suspected being tracked themselves. Higher agreeableness was associated with viewing location sharing as more beneficial and less detrimental, and with a reduced likelihood that location sharing contributed to relationship dissolution. Contrary to expectations, neuroticism was linked to both more positive and more negative interpretations of surreptitious location tracking, especially when participants were tracked by their partner. Openness, while unrelated to positive outcomes, was associated with increased likelihood of reporting that being tracked led to the end of the relationship. These findings suggest that personality traits shape how individuals interpret and respond to location-sharing practices in romantic relationships, influencing whether such technologies are seen as tools of connection or control. • Location-sharing can lead to positive, negative, or mixed outcomes depending on personality traits. • People high in agreeableness were more likely to report positive experiences with location sharing. • Neuroticism was linked to both comfort and distress in response to being tracked. • Openness predicted discomfort with covert tracking and was linked to relationship dissolution. • Nonconsensual location tracking was common and often contributed to breakups.
Smith et al. (Sun,) studied this question.