Snapchat social media platform recently updated its app and it now enables users to see exactly where their friends are.
Police forces around the world have raised child safety concerns about this new Snapchat feature that reveals users’ locations amid fears it could be used for stalking.
The map is so detailed that if you zoom in, you can see the actual street location.
Parents have been warned to turn off “Snap Maps” on their children’s phones after Snapchat, which is wildly popular among teenagers, introduced the location-sharing mode in June 2017.
The feature displays a map of nearby friends, showing their latest location gathered using a smartphone’s GPS sensor. Users of the app can also search for locations such as individual schools, with the app displaying public photos and videos sent by students.
While the feature is designed to help friends meet up or attend events together it has raised fears that it could be abused.
Many children tend to import all their random contacts from their phones when setting up Snapchat and unless you check the settings, it would be possible for strangers to know where they are at a particular point in time.
To play safe, users could change the settings to a private mode that does not share their location with anyone.
Parents can turn also the feature off on children’s phones by setting the app to “ghost mode”.
To hide your location from friends, you can easily turn on ghost mode in Snap Map. To do this, pinch the screen when you are in selfie mode to bring up Snap Map. Then, click the settings icon in the top right-hand corner and set the phone to “ghost mode”. Then Snapchat will stop sharing your location.
Image Credit: Telegraph UK
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