Snap Map Now Has Live Feature

With the popularity of Apple’s “Find My” and Facebook’s Friend Finder, it's no surprise that Snap Chat now also allows you to turn on a “live map” feature allowing friends to follow your exact location from 15 min to 8 hours (Snapchat Adds Live Location Sharing, Here’s How It Works, 2022). This feature does not come on by default, but by choice and will not be sent to all friends on Snap Chat, but on a friend-by-friend basis. This means that some of a user’s friends may not be able to see them posting live, while others can.  It is the user’s choice who will have this access. 

From a parent’s perspective, this is why it should be important to know who your children’s closest friends are. Check out their list frequently to make notes of who their top friends are. A friend with double pink hearts is the one they talk to the most. The friend with a smiley face is their next closest friend. Knowing this may assist if the child ever runs away or does something live that could be dangerous.  

Snap Chat is calling this feature a “buddy system” but it can assist law enforcement in locating missing people or identifying people that may turn this on during an active shooter or other critical response. It is important that students, parents, and law enforcement know about this feature as it can assist with locating family members, keeping them safe, or assisting with an investigation.  

Reference: 

Snapchat adds Live Location sharing, here’s how it works. (2022, February 18). 9to5Mac. https://9to5mac.com/2022/02/18/snapchat-live-location-sharing-feature/