The past week has been full of stories following the release of a new feature within a Snapchat update, the Snap Map. Snapchat claim “As long as you’re both mutual friends, and decide to share your location, then you can both easily see what each other are up to on the Snap Map!”. The idea behind the new feature is that people will be able to keep up to date with what their friends are up to and that it will be easier to meet up whilst they are out and about.
However, concerns have been raised that the new feature could be used with nefarious intent such as stalking or burglaries – due to people knowing your exact location and whether you are away from home or not.
So, what about the fact that Snap Map is automatically enabled for all users after the update? When you open the Snap Map feature for the first time you will be prompted to choose if you want to share your location. However, if you do not realise the new feature after the update, you will automatically be visible on the Snap Map to all of your Snapchat friends if you add a snap to your story, up until you change your location settings either within your phone settings or Snapchat.
To turn the location settings off altogether for Snapchat you can go to your phone settings, find Snapchat, then location and choose never share. Within the app you can also turn the location feature to Only Me (Ghost Mode), My Friends or Select Friends by selecting the settings icon in the top-right corner of the map screen.
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