Snapchat allows you to share your location with certain contacts. This is what you need to know about this feature.
Snapchat gives you another way to ensure that your friends and you are safe after a night on the town or while out with friends.
Snap Map will now include a temporary location sharing feature that allows you to track your friends’ movements and get to your destination.
Continue reading to learn more about Snapchat’s live location sharing feature and how it can help you and your friends stay safe.
Snapchat Adds Live Location Sharing to SnapMap
Snapchat announced a live location sharing feature. This is an extension of Snap Map’s Snap Map feature. This feature can be used as a buddy system that allows friends to keep track of each others’ movements for safety.
Snapchat has partnered up with It’s On Us to provide this safety feature. This nonprofit organization focuses on stopping sexual assault on campuses.
The app already supports location sharing. While you already have the ability to view someone’s last location on Snapchat, this feature does not show your exact location. It only updates your location information every time you open the app.
Snapchat’s Live Location Sharing feature: How it Works
Snapchat’s live location sharing allows you to share your location with family and friends in real time. This allows certain contacts to keep an eye on you and track your movements until your destination is reached or until you are comfortable sharing.
Similar to Apple’s “Find My”, users must mutually opt in to live location sharing to use it. This means that you need to be friends with the person you want to share your location with.
You can share your Snapchat live location for a time period, similar to WhatsApp’s location sharing feature. This includes 15 minutes, an hour or eight hours. This feature is disabled by default. You cannot share your location with your Snapchat friends.
You will need to log in to the profile of your friend to enable live location sharing. Once you have chosen how long you would like to share your location, you can go to their profile and select how much. The status of live location sharing can be viewed in the chat window.
Snapchat Live Location Sharing Will Help Users Stay Safe
Snapchat’s live location sharing allows you to be sure that someone is following your movements and that you are heading in the right direction.
Your location is always shared in real time so your friends can see where you are. If they have concerns, they can reach you to ensure that you are safe.
This feature is useful when you need to leave a friend’s house to go home, go on a date or go out after hours.
Privacy features for live locations
Snapchat allows you to control how Snapchat uses its live location feature. This is so you can be comfortable with how often and when your friends and relatives are able track you.
Without letting the friend who is tracking you know, you can pause sharing your location. You can pause sharing your live location without alerting the friend that is tracking you.
The app only allows you to share your location with friends. This means that other users cannot track your movements without your permission.
Snapchat: Should you share your live location?
If you and your friends already use similar apps, such as iOS’ “Find My”, and WhatsApp’s location sharing feature, it is not necessary to share Snapchat’s live location.
If you and your friends want to track each other via the app, it is a good idea to use this feature.
Snapchat’s live location sharing feature isn’t new or revolutionary. It is up to you whether or not you want to use it.
