Snapchat Now Lets You Spy on Friends' Locations

Bored Snapchat users looking for something to do should update their apps today: they'll be greeted with a new map view that shows where exactly their friends are and what they're upwards to.

Snap Map, as the company is calling it, tin be activated by pinching your fingers together on the camera view when y'all first get-go the app. Once in map view, yous'll see "Actionmoji" versions of your nearby friends, which include their names and profile photos in a configuration that vaguely resembles the tags yous might find on plants for auction at the plant nursery.

Snap Map Privacy Settings

When yous tap on 1 of your friends' icons, you lot'll run across stories they've posted recently, which might become you lot in the mood to go join in the fun they're having. Y'all'll only see your friends on the map if they've recently opened their Snapchat map and take shared their location with you. Conversely, you lot can decide who can see your location on their maps, choosing from all your friends or a customized list. You can also scan the map in "Ghost Fashion" without dissemination your location to anyone.

What if none of your friends are around or they haven't posted annihilation interesting recently? Not to worry: the map view will besides evidence a heat map based on the activeness of other Snapchat users. For example, a map of San Francisco shows hot spots at Fisherman's wharf and forth Market Street. You tin can also zoom out to view events that Snapchat selects from around the state or the earth, such a baseball game or current events similar Tuesday's special election in Georgia.

The Snap Map is Snapchat's take on the location-based social media genre, which already includes startups like Zenly that are designed to let you lot go along track of nearby friends. And given Instagram's propensity to successfully duplicate Snapchat features, it also wouldn't be surprising if Instagram copies the map idea in the nearly future.