Location attached when message sent from messenger, but not from app

Open a support ticket.

For normal messages (where you TYPE the text), you have explicit control over this. Just to the left of the box where you type the message, there is "location pin" icon. It's not obvious that this is tappable, but it is. Tap to change whether or not location is included with the message. I don't know how it looks on Android. On iOS, the icon has a slash when location will NOT be sent. 

As far as I can tell, there is no such feature when sending the useless check-in messages. I did (finally) figure out how to send one of these from the app. But I saw no way to control inclusion/exclusion of location. So whatever the app does, it does by default. IMO, defaulting to no location makes the check-in messages even more useless, if that's possible. Still, support may well tell you that this is "by design". The target audience for Messenger is people who want to send messages, not people who care about location or navigation.

All of that said, I stay as far away from the Messenger app as possible. I dislike having my cell number hijacked.

What about twolpert`´s hint with "location pin icon"? Has it solved your prob? Would be nice to get feedback; may help other people, too!

Volker, the location pin icon is not available on the check-in post when sent from the app.  Since location is important, I'm surprised it is not included with the check-in post sent from the app, especially since it's the default action when sending a check-in from the device. 

Ah, sorry missed that about "check in messages" in your starting post. 

This account-level setting is a different thing entirely. It governs whether or not the SMS message includes lat/lon as text in the message. Yes, that is appended by the servers. But it requires that the location be present in the message itself.

The subject of the thread is whether or not the location is IN a check-in message sent by the app.

The weird thing is that I am pretty sure that EVERY message sent by the device carries a location, as long as the device has a fix. But there is a question as to how (or if) that location is exposed. The apps give you the option of not "exposing" the location. I don't now if that REALLY means "there is no location in the message, as if the device did not have a fix" or "the location is there, but it's a secret".

Either way, IMO, this is just crazy. None of the apps should give the user this option. Let alone default it to "no position".

Clearly, the project managers at Garmin have a different idea. And the option has been there in apps (at least for free-form messages) since the very beginning. I have a hard time understanding the value of this feature.

OK, I think I got it figured out.  When you send a check-in from the messenger device, the GPS fix comes from the messenger device.  When sending from the app, the GPS fix comes from your phone.  If the device has a GPS fix but your phone does not, you won't get a location when sending from the Messenger app.  Odd, but that explains the behavior I was seeing.  When I make sure my phone has a good GPS fix, I get a location appended to check-in messages sent from the messenger app. So it seems like when a cellular/wifi connection exists, the messenger app bypasses the messenger device almost completely. 

twolpert said:

I have a hard time understanding the value of this feature.

For normal SMS and emails (not Preset or Check-in) this makes perfect sense.

I sometimes use the inReach device for communication with parties that have no need to know my location. And I do not want to share my location with them, thus I disable included location in messages.