Glympse is a clever — and potentially lifesaving — feature that we’d love to see in more smartphone-connected cars.

It started out as a free app that can broadcast the user’s location to selected contacts, Facebook friends or Twitter followers. But it’s become a valuable tool for drivers of smartphone-connected Fords and Merecedes-Benzes, allowing them to broadcast their location without taking their hands off the steering wheel.

Now BMW and Mini have partnered with Glympse, raising the marque total to four.

Studies have shown, time and time again, that it’s enormously risky to mess around with a phone’s screen while driving — so it’s disappointing this technology can so far only be found under four badges (and remember, Mini is part of BMW).

As we noted in January’s post about Glympse partnering with Ford, the tech works best on Android phones: The user simply has to press a multi-function button on the steering wheel to access the Glympse app. There’s a bit more bother with iOS, because the Glympse app must be the last-accessed app in order to use it from the steering wheel.