Disabling GPS location in messages??

There might be something special for an enterprise account. But I am not aware of any way to suppress the location on a normal account. If I might ask, why do you want to do this?

If I might ask, why do you want to do this?

My initial use case is logical and simple: I own a busy IT services company - I have to keep in touch with my clients and/or my staff 24x7 / 365. If I'm off the grid hiking, mountaineering, or somewhere remote on the weekend - I DO NOT wish to share my GPS coordinates with clients or my staff.

I can think of a million and one use cases or not wanting to the location in messages. There really needs to be some kind of option to disable location information in messages, I was completely taken off guard when I discovered that this can not be disabled!

If there isn't any way to disable the location, then I'm going to have to pass on purchasing the dozen or so devices for my team.

It's not good!

We're used to thinking of these things from a safety perspective - where more location information is always better. Since you're in the IT business, you can probably work out a solution for e-mail messages. Relay through a separate e-mail address and strip the location information before forwarding to the original destination address.

However, I can't think of any similar solution for SMS messages. Those are routed from the device, to Iridium, to the Garmin servers, to the regional SMS provider, to the recipient's cell provider, to the phone. No place in there to intercept and modify the traffic.

Yes I guess as part of the idea is safety stripping out location information isn't a good idea. If you're really that concerned about folks knowing your location I wonder why you're carrying one? And of course you could always elect not to message anyone you didn't want to know your location?

....... 24x7 / 365. If I'm off the grid hiking, mountaineering, or somewhere remote on the weekend - ..........
It's not good!

Clarification please, by 24x7 / 365, do you mean 1 week divided by 365 days in a year, or 7 years which would be 24 x 7 x 365?

I think he means 24 hrs 7 days a week 365 days of the year but I agree clarification would be good, although I'm not sure it affects things much.

This is not a smartphone, nor strictly a safety device although it was built around the premise of both. This is a social device with safety protocols built-in to serve a specific niche other SAR devices didn't meet. If you're conducting business while off grid, your best bet is to get a Sat phone or Hotspot that will allow you to communicate more effectively and not give away your location.

You are able to disable location within messages, this is available to both Consumer and Enterprise accounts.
This can be configured on the web site thru the Account tab -> My Info and scrolling to SMS message configuration. There is a check box that you can uncheck that will stop location being sent with your messages.

Did not think to look there. Thank you!

Be sure to uncheck both "include as text" and "include as link". You'll have to try it to see if it also affects e-mail. Doesn't say so, but it would make sense if it did.

jredwild207 THANK YOU!!! I'm glad Garmin put some thought around this! I owe you a case of virtual beer :D

(multi-quote isn't working)...

TotemLake Lake - I get how the device is perceived to be a "social" safety device, however, it is marketed as what it is = a "Handheld Satellite Communicator with GPS Navigation". The trendy "social" stuff is secondary and simply adds the component as an additional "feature set" to the core product. Not everyone is on board with the social aspects, so let's hope that Garmin / DeLorme stays on track with product development and marketing - not letting the "social" features take over the platform. Let us leave it to the facebooks of the world come out with their own sub-par product(s) that market the devices as "social" first and {insert practical and useful purposes} second).