Short answer
Approximate location means Help Me shows your request as a rough area about 500 meters wide, never a pin on you. Precise location is shared only after a neighbor says yes and you agree, and only with that one person. When the request is complete, exact sharing ends automatically.
The facts, in one place
- The default is a rough area about 500 meters wide.
- Precise location needs a yes and your consent.
- Only the neighbor who said yes receives it.
- Completion ends exact sharing.
What other people see
On the open map, a request is a rounded area about 500 meters wide, not your apartment door, not a residence-hall room, not a parked car's exact stall. A helper decides whether they can be useful from that picture plus your category and sentence.
Treat 500 meters as a neighborhood-scale blur, not a surveyed circle. It is a privacy default, not decoration.
When precision is even possible
Precise location moves only after a neighbor says yes and you agree, and only to that person. You can stop sharing. Completion ends exact sharing automatically. You can also skip precision entirely and meet at a public place you named in the request.
- Precision is opt-in, never default.
- It goes to one person, not to every helper.
- On supported iPhones, precision finding needs both people to opt in.
Why it matters
A help app that pinned your exact position for strangers would be a stalking tool with a friendly icon. A rough area keeps you findable by a neighbor and unfindable by anyone else. You can report or block any member at any time.
Help Me is not an emergency service. If someone is in immediate danger, call 911 or your local emergency number.
Questions people actually ask
Not from the open map. They see a rough area. Exact location is off until you agree after a yes, and you can meet at a public place instead.
It is a rough area of about 500 meters. Treat it as a blur, not a measured circle.
On supported iPhones, it is available only when both people opt in. It is a separate, later choice, not the default map.
Keep going
- Ground rulesThe ground rules, said plainlyHow Help Me handles your location, who can help, private chat, and meeting in public. Plus how to report or block anyone. Help Me is not an emergency service.
- GlossaryPrecision findingOn supported iPhones, Help Me can offer precision finding using Apple's Nearby Interaction, only when both people opt in after a yes. It is never the default.
- GlossaryThe live mapThe live map is where asking happens in Help Me: request help, or go online as a helper. Open requests show as rough areas, never as pins.
- GuideHow location works, and how it does notHelp Me shows a rough area about 500 meters wide, not a pin on you. Exact location is shared only after a yes and your consent. Here is how it works.
- How it worksHow Help Me worksAsk in one sentence. A neighbor nearby can say yes. You chat privately and meet in a public place. Four steps, for the small stuff in Fargo-Moorhead.
- AnswerWho can see my location on Help Me?A rough area about 500 meters wide while live. Exact location is optional, shared only after a yes, with only that person, and it ends with the request.
Help Me is a community app for adults in Fargo–Moorhead. It is not a K–12 student program, not a youth chat, and not campus police.