The existing Snap Map feature is used by more than 250 million Snapchat users per month, so it’s notable to see the company expanding on its location feature. This is a notable new feature for Snapchat, even if it’s somewhat limited in scope due to privacy protections and concerns. Just make sure you’re running the latest version of the Snapchat app from the App Store. This is where you can enable location sharing with that friend.

You can find the new Live Location option by going to a friend’s profile in the Snapchat app. Your friend can watch your location in the Snapchat app while you make your way home, then Live Location sharing can be turned off altogether (via The Verge). For instance, you can share your location with a trusted friend when you’re on your way home from a night out. Snapchat is pitching this as a “buddy system” feature of sorts. Again, the company emphasizes that you should only use the feature for “trusted friends and family.” Instead, it must be enabled on a friend-by-friend basis. There is also no option to share Live Location with all of your Snapchat friends. Instead, the company says that you can enable live location sharing with trusted contacts for as short of a time period as 15 minutes, or as long as 8 hours.Īdditionally, the feature is disabled by default and users can also pause location sharing without sending a notification to the other person. First off, the Live Location feature is not meant to be enabled on a 24/7 basis.

To address potential privacy issues, Snapchat has implemented a handful of different safeguards to prevent stalking and harassment. Snapchat’s new Live Location feature is described as a way to share your precise location with “trusted friends and family.” In the past, the Snap Map feature has only showed approximate location, and that location information only updates when the Snapchat user opens the app, not in the background. This is an expansion of Snapchat’s incredibly popular Snap Map feature that launched back in 2017. Snap has announced a new real-time location sharing feature, which it says is designed to be used as a “buddy system” of sorts. Snapchat is continuing its busy week of announcing new features, this time with its eyes on Apple’s Find My network.

Snapchat on mac 2017