Snapchat on Friday unveiled a new feature akin to an electronic buddy system that allows users to share their real-time locations with friends for a set period of time.
The safety feature’s rollout coincides with more people returning to school campuses, traveling, going out on dates and otherwise resuming pre-pandemic daily activities, CNN Business reported.
More specifically, the new capability is intended to help keep tabs on friends who are en route to dates or on their way home, The Verge reported.
The feature – created in partnership with It’s On Us, a nonprofit founded in 2014 to combat sexual assault on campuses – is similar to Apple’s Find My app, which allows users to share their real-time locations with friends for 15 minutes, one hour or up to eight hours, CNN Business reported.
According to Snapchat, some 250 million monthly users already share their locations with friends on its Snap Map feature, which debuted in 2017, but that tool only updates a location when the user has the app open.
The new feature is available only between mutual friends on the app, and users will be able to pause sharing without sending the other party a notification in order to lower the risk of stalking or “being pressured to constantly share location,” The Verge reported.
In addition, the feature remains off by default, and there is no option to share real-time location with all Snapchat friends, the technology news outlet reported.
According to CNN Business, enabling the setting involves only two simple steps: navigate to a friend’s profile, and select the duration of location sharing (The status of live location sharing will be visible within the chat window with that friend only).
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