Snapchat lets users send their current location to their friends
Snapchat users will get an innovative method to keep tabs on their friends. Snapchat announced that it is introducing real-time location sharing that is intended to serve as a temporary system to keep track of friends when family and friends are heading out on an event or heading home.
The feature is similar to the Find My app on iOS, and users who have opted to sign up can share and view their specific locations. The Snapchat setting is available for 15 minutes or a few hours with a single user but only to mutually connected friends on the app.
To reduce the possibility of being stalked or being forced to share their location, users can stop sharing and not send the other party a message, Snapchat says.
The feature is turned off by default, and there’s the option of sharing a real-time place with the rest of their Snapchat friends.
To activate the setting, users visit a friend’s profile and select the time frame for location sharing. The status of location sharing life will be visible in the chat window shared with the friend.
This will be the only live-location feature to be added to Snapchat. Users already have the option of letting friends know the location they were in when they first used the app and populate with the Snap Map — used by more than 250 million Snapchat users every month.
In this launch, Snapchat partnered with It’s On Us, a national nonprofit organization focused on preventing sexual assaults on campus. Alongside features like the buddy system starting today, Snapchat will be introducing an in-app message on the awareness of bystanders.
