Live location sharing on Snapchat launched to help users notify friends of their real-time whereabouts
Snapchat on Friday introduced Temporary Live Location on its platform to allow users to share their live location with friends. The new feature, rolling out to all Snapchat users globally, will let users share their real-time location with friends to let them know they’re on their way to meet up or when they go home in the evening. However, direct location sharing is different from regular location sharing on Snapchat that has been available through the built-in Snap Maps since 2017.
With the new location sharing feature, users on Snapchat may share their live location updates with friends between 15 minutes and 8 hours. This feature only works between friends on an individual basis. This means that your live location will not be visible to the entire community on the platform and will only be shared with friends you have selected from the app.
You and your friend must also accept each other as friends on Snapchat before sharing your live location. Furthermore, Snapchat displays a pop-up when the user accesses the live location feature for the first time. It basically reminds the user that the live location is reserved for close friends and family. The intent here is to avoid privacy issues that can arise from real-time location sharing.
Temporary Live Location Sharing will roll out globally on Friday on Android and iOS.
How to share location directly on Snapchat
You can share your live location on Snapchat by going to the profile of one of the friends you want to share your location with in real time. Once you’ve opened your friend’s profile, scroll down to see Share my live location Selection.
Snapchat will now show you a pop-up to notify you about the feature. You can press Sounds cool! to continue and then select the timeframe in which you want to share your live location with your friends.
Since this feature only works between friends on an individual basis, there’s no option to let you share your live location with multiple friends at once.
When sharing your live location with friends, they will see your Bitmoji with a special ‘LIVE’ icon. However, the icon will not be visible to others on the app.
The Temporary Live Location feature on Snapchat appears as an extension of Snap Map It’s a launched back in June 2017, where you could choose to share your location with your friends on the basis of your choice, such as all friends and selected people.
However, Snap Map only updates location information when the user opens the app. This is not the case with the new feature as it will continue to show your live location for the pre-selected time.
Overall, the Temporary Live Location feature on Snapchat works similar to how you can share Live location with your contacts above WhatsApp.
Snapchat Parents Snap says it designed the new location sharing feature based on community feedback on how people are using Snap Map with their friends. It is also part of a broader partnership with the US nonprofit “It’s On US” which aims to combat sexual assault on campus through educational programs. awareness and prevention.
Starting today, Snap will also publish a new public service announcement (PSA) in the Snapchat app “to raise awareness among outsiders” to help people limit circumstances including hacking. sex.
Last year, Snapchat improved Snap Map with Discovery and Memory Class to enhance the location-based experience on its platform. It also started recently serve ads in Stories to monetize content.
