Best Self-hosted Alternatives to Glympse

Hauk is an open-source, self-hosted service for sharing your location in real time. It provides a PHP backend that stores location data in memory and a web frontend; companion mobile clients (Android and community iOS clients) connect to your server to start temporary share sessions.

Key Features

• PHP-based backend designed to run on a standard PHP web server
• Uses Memcached or Redis for in-memory storage of live location data (no disk persistence by default)
• Generates temporary, randomly generated share links for real-time tracking sessions
• Companion mobile clients (official Android client; third-party/official iOS clients exist) to start and manage shares
• Official Docker image and docker-compose support for easy deployment; distribution packages available (e.g., Arch AUR)
• Optional LDAP authentication support and configurable session expiration and permissions
• Demo instance provided for quick testing (demo instances impose short retention limits)

Use Cases

• Temporarily share your live location with friends or family while en route
• Real-time location updates for meetups, deliveries, or small events without third-party tracking
• Privacy-focused short-term tracking where location data should not be stored long-term

Limitations and Considerations

• Requires a separate Memcached or Redis service and the corresponding PHP extension; location data is kept in memory and is lost on cache restart
• No built-in TLS termination in the backend; a reverse proxy (e.g., nginx) or external TLS termination is recommended for production deployments
• Demo/public instances are intentionally limited (short retention) and may route traffic through third-party CDNs for DDoS protection
• Companion app requirements vary; the Android client requires Android 6.0+ and store availability may vary by platform

Hauk is a lightweight option when you need ephemeral, self-hosted location sharing with minimal server footprint. It is optimized for privacy by avoiding disk storage and by giving operators control over hosting and retention.