Latest news with #locationSharing
CNET
6 days ago
- CNET
Home Safe? Snap Map Will Let Your Friends and Family Know With Alert
"Let us know when you're home." How many times have you heard that from friends or family at the end of the night, but forgotten to follow up when you get through the door? Snapchat has added a feature to its popular Snap Map that will take care of it for you. The messaging app launched a new feature on Thursday called "Home Safe," which will alert friends and/or family that you're home safely even when you forget to do so. It's ideal to let folks know when you're back from a vacation, a night out or a long drive. With location sharing already part of Snapchat's Family Center hub, the new "Home Safe" feature will also be great for parents to get alerts to know when they're kids are home in one piece. How Home Safe Works First, tap your Bitmoji on Snap Map and then "My Home" to set your home location. Then, open the chat conversation with a friend or friends who you want to alert when you get home, tap the map icon and then the "Home Safe" button. Later, when you arrive back home, your friend or friends will get a one-time alert in the chat conversation that you've made it home with no problems. Remember that alerts can only be sent to contacts with whom you are already sharing your location, and the "Home Safe" notification will only be sent once. You will need to go through the process again for future alerts. Also, remember that location sharing on Snap Map is turned off by default. In May, Snapchat announced that their user base for Snap Maps topped 400 million monthly active users. Snapchat's "Home Safe" is a welcome addition to its app, and it's one of several apps that can help make others aware that you are safe, including:
The Guardian
08-07-2025
- The Guardian
Tell us your experiences with location sharing apps
Location sharing apps and services have made it easier than ever to keep tabs on our friends and partners. For some, it is a quick and convenient way to keep loved ones updated on changing whereabouts – but others find such technology intrusive and are reluctant to use it. One recent survey found that nearly 1 in 5 young people believe it's OK to track their partner whenever they want. With this in mind, we want to hear about your experiences of sharing your location with other adults in your life, whether that's friends or partners – and, of course, how you feel about having your own location tracked in return. Does having someone able to view your location at all times make you feel safer – or does it feel like surveillance? Has it proved useful, or has it caused problems in your relationships? Either way, tell us about it below. You can tell us about your experience with location sharing apps using this form. Please include as much detail as possible. Please note, the maximum file size is 5.7 MB. Your contact details are helpful so we can contact you for more information. They will only be seen by the Guardian. Your contact details are helpful so we can contact you for more information. They will only be seen by the Guardian. If you include other people's names please ask them first. If you're having trouble using the form click here. Read terms of service here and privacy policy here.
New York Times
25-06-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
‘Modern Love' Podcast: How Location Sharing Is Changing Our Relationships
Hosted by Anna Martin Produced by Reva GoldbergEmily LangDavis LandChristina DjossaAmy Pearl and Sara Curtis Edited by Jen Poyant and Lynn Levy Engineered by Efim Shapiro Original music by Dan PowellMarion LozanoPat McCusker and Alyssa Moxley ''I guess it felt easier to just keep going through the process of turning it off than having a conversation about it. It felt more efficient to press a button than to sit down and say, 'Mom, let's talk about boundaries.'' When we asked Modern Love listeners how location sharing is affecting their relationships, the responses we got were all over the map. Some people love this technology. Some hate it. But either way, it has changed something fundamental about how we demonstrate our love and how we set boundaries around relationships. Today, we're sharing a few of our favorite listener responses. Then, Host Anna Martin talks with Arlon Jay Staggs, a Modern Love essayist who has wrestled deeply with whether to share his location. At first, location sharing wasn't a big deal for Staggs and his mother. He took a lot of long drives, and it made sense for her to keep tabs on him. But when he realized his mother was watching his little blue dot too closely, and it was causing her stress when she needed peace of mind, Staggs decided the sharing had to stop. He just couldn't figure out how to tell her. And when tragedy struck his family, the stakes of his decision to share or not share became a lot higher. Here's how to submit a Modern Love essay to The New York Times. Here's how to submit a Tiny Love Story. Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Links to transcripts of episodes generally appear on these pages within a week. 'Modern Love' is hosted by Anna Martin and produced by Reva Goldberg, Emily Lang, Davis Land, Amy Pearl and Sara Curtis. The show is edited by Lynn Levy and Jen Poyant, our executive producer. Production management is by Christina Djossa. The show is mixed by Efim Shapiro and recorded by Maddy Masiello and Nick Pitman. It features original music by Alyssa Moxley, Pat McCusker, Dan Powell and Marion Lozano. Our theme music is by Dan Powell. Special thanks to Daniel Jones, Miya Lee, Larissa Anderson, Dahlia Haddad, Lisa Tobin, Brooke Minters, Felice León, Dave Mayers, Eddie Costas, Sawyer Roque, Sophie Erickson, Mariya Abdulkaf, Mark Zemel, Will Peischel, Pat Gunther, Mahima Chablani, Jeffrey Miranda, Isabella Anderson, Christine Nguyen, Reyna Desai, Jordan Cohen, Victoria Kim, Nina Lassam and Julia Simon. Thoughts? Email us at modernlovepodcast@ more from Modern Love? Read past stories. Watch the TV series and sign up for the newsletter. We also have swag at the NYT Store and two books, 'Modern Love: True Stories of Love, Loss and Redemption' and 'Tiny Love Stories: True Tales of Love in 100 Words or Less.'
Yahoo
08-06-2025
- Yahoo
The sneaky new friendship divide between millennials and Gen Z
Whether to share your location is a heated topic, especially among millennials and Gen Z. As a Gen Zer, I share with 18 people, which my older friends may view as excessive. Gen X is indifferent, seeing both pros and cons, as social connections evolve post-pandemic. Do you want to share your location with me? Eighteen of my closest friends and family already do. On a Tuesday evening in early June, I can map a digital town square of that real-life network. One friend is still at the office; two are at Central Park; another is at home hundreds of miles away from me. These are people who share their location with me, not just for directions, but in perpetuity through the Find My Friends app. I think it strengthens our bonds to observe each other's routines and special outings — even when there's no practical need for it. To others, location sharing is a nightmare. They see it as an extension of the surveillance state, with their college roommate, jealous partner, or overbearing parent acting as Big Brother. The Washington Post proclaimed that it's "making us miserable." How you feel about your friends and loved ones being able to see where you are at any given time may represent your current lifestage, how friendships evolve, and technology's role in our relationships. "This is brand new culturally, historically," Anna Goldfarb, the author of "Modern Friendship: How to Nurture Our Most Valued Connections," told me of the confluence of friends and location-sharing technology. "And it makes sense that people are like, 'what does this mean?' This is something we haven't ever had that technology to do before — much less the space and freedom to do it." While it's impossible to generalize entire generations' attitudes toward anything, I wanted to find out how location sharing shakes out across the age spectrum. So, I spoke to seven people spanning three generations to get a sense of their feelings about sharing their location. Gen Zers were chill about it; so are Gen Xers. But as millennials approach middle age, location sharing highlights how their friendships are growing — or growing apart. The location sharing debate represents the journey of growing up in a digital age. As a geriatric Gen Zer, I'm still at a stage in life where the majority of my friends are single or unmarried, and pretty much none of them have kids. We're living similar lifestyles, often out and about, and I don't encounter many issues with my friends knowing my whereabouts at all times. That mid to late 20s uncoupledness and childlessness aligns with historical trends: On average, each generation gets married and has kids later in life. For Aiden Lewis, a 26-year-old Ph.D. student in the Boston area, sharing his location with his family is a matter of convenience. "The positives really far outweigh the negatives," he said, adding that while it's unlikely he'll be in danger, if he is, his parents would know his whereabouts. "But otherwise, the only risk on my part is minor embarrassment that they saw me out late drinking too much." A 2022 Harris Poll found that Gen Z, born 1997 to 2012, was the most likely generation to say it was convenient to share their location. For folks like Lewis, location sharing is just another digital tool in their belt. As Goldfarb, on the border between Gen X and the millennials, said, "When I was younger in my 20s, I would've absolutely loved to know where all my friends are at all times." As I've progressed through my 20s, location sharing has shown me some shifts that are harbingers of what's to come in the next decade: Couples are together more often. My higher-earning friends, or those in more corporate roles, might show up at nice hotels on a work trip or a more upscale vacation. Others might still be on campus for their graduate degrees. And it felt symbolic when I revoked a former college friend's location-viewing privileges — a sort of closure for a specific period in my life. Millennials, born 1981 to 1996, are in a life stage that's as bifurcated as their views toward location sharing. Meranda Hall, a 33-year-old in Brooklyn, operates more like a Gen Zer in this realm. She doesn't have any married friends, and she said she never plans to marry. She and her friends have no qualms about sharing their locations. "All the people that I share mine with, they're super open about it, and no one is ever anywhere particularly interesting for it to be too much of a debate," Hall said. For her peers of similar ages but a different life stage, like Goldfarb, location sharing might be more fraught. After age 30, Goldfarb said, friendships start falling off a cliff; people move, have kids, take on different jobs, or prioritize relationships relevant to their careers. "When you get older, you tend to have different perspectives on your friendships," she said. "You don't need your friends to know where you are at all times when you're older, because you probably have children, spouses, in-laws, there's just different relationships that bubble to the surface in my opinion," In my informal surveying, which also included several coworkers, millennials were the most likely to have very strong thoughts on location sharing. Some outright hated it, although still shared with one or two friends, and others felt no need for it, unless they were happily coupled and shared with spouses. Some said they found it to be strangely intimate. Olivia Bethea, 31, said she only shares with four people. She said she's noticed location sharing coming up more in regular conversations, with people offhandedly referencing that they checked where someone else was. She doesn't see herself expanding her location-sharing circle more. "A lot of people end up sharing where they are anyway on Instagram and stuff, but I'm finding myself to be a little bit more protective over it," she said. "People can make a lot of inferences from your location, and I just don't want to invite those inferences." Millennials grew up before everyone carried an always-on GPS device at all times. A concern that I heard repeatedly was about surveillance and willingness to constantly reveal where they were, which doesn't seem to bother the always-tracked and always-online Gen Zers. "Millennials, it wasn't something that we always had. I guess if you're Gen Z, it's kind of always been a thing," Hall said, adding, "I guess it's just something to be skeptical about." When I spoke to Gen Xers about location sharing, I was met with a proverbial shrug. The forgotten generation, born 1965 to 1980, doesn't seem to be too pressed about location sharing, although they're not eager to adopt the practice either. Meredith Finn, a Gen Xer in her 50s in Maine, said she thinks she missed the location-sharing bandwagon completely. It would've been more fun in college, on a night when all her friends were out at different bars. "I remember nights when we'd go from bar to bar looking for some of our friends, and we'd just miss them," she said. "And it just would've been kind of nice to be able to see where everybody was hanging out. Of course, we didn't have anything like that. We didn't even have cellphones when I was in college." She said that she'd probably be willing to share her location with a few friends. But if anyone came up to her and asked to share her location, "I think I would say, 'Why? Just send me a text and ask me where I am.'" Leslie Lancaster, a 47-year-old in California, felt similarly — she said she's shared location when she's navigating somewhere difficult to find on a map, or trying to find friends in rural locations. Lancaster said she can see the benefits of it, but also how it could become controlling in the wrong hands. "For myself, my husband and I, I don't need to know where he's at all the time. So that's why I probably wouldn't share my location with him, unless I were potentially off on a vacation or a trip where I was not with him," she said. Both Gen Xers said they could see its utility in a time when folks are struggling to connect or feeling more isolated. Lancaster said she could understand the impulse to see where your friends are, even if you're not actively communicating. "People are so isolated now. I mean, since the pandemic and a lot of work from home, a lot of people are just in their little bubbles," Finn said, adding that it's rarer to pop into your regular coffeeshop and run into five friends. "It doesn't happen the way it used to." Like many technological advances, your thoughts on location sharing are a reflection of your own situation. It's at a crossroads of issues facing our social lives: The lack of third spaces has put them into our phones, social circles are shrinking, and we've had to use technology to fill the gaps. I'm sure Gen Alpha, born 2010 to 2024, will come up with something that horrifies and shocks me (they're already back on Snapchat). As I creep toward age 30, I am thinking about the ways the social contours of my life have changed; in speaking with other Gen Z peers, we all realized we had a few friends we'd fallen out of touch with who were still lingering on Find My Friends. Right now, though, it feels mean to pull the cord. "I predict that this is something that you're going to change your relationship with," Goldfarb told me. She added, "I think that it's more likely that it's going to be a more concentrated friend group that will need to know this about you." Do you have strong thoughts or feelings about location sharing? Contact this reporter at jkaplan@ Read the original article on Business Insider
ABC News
27-05-2025
- Health
- ABC News
Location-Sharing Apps
JOE BARONIO, REPORTER: Do you have any location-sharing apps on your phone right now? PERSON: Snapchat and Find My. PERSON: I have Life360 and Snapchat has my location. PERSON: I've got Snapchat and sort of like iPhone, Find It. PERSON: Snapchat, Find My and Life360. PERSON: Snapchat and I have Find My Phone. PERSON: Life360 right now and Google Maps sharing. Yeah, a lot of young people have some kind of location-sharing app on their devices, whether it's to keep up with friends or for parents and family to keep an eye on you. PERSON: I use location-sharing apps so that my parents can track me, so they know that I'm safe. PERSON: Oh, because my Mum makes me. PERSON: Yeah, just to find my mates. PERSON: For Snapchat I think it's more like a cultural thing, you like to see where everyone is. PERSON: I'm driving so my Mum just likes to know like where I'm at and like if I'm going the speed limit. PERSON: Yeah, I think like with going out and us being, you know, the age that we are, there's a lot of uni, a lot of travelling, so just, you know, gives a bit of comfort for myself, my parents. But, while many of these apps sell themselves on safety, there is a potential dark side. JULIE INMAN GRANT, ESAFETY COMMISSIONER: We've been talking about coercive control for a long time in the context of family, domestic and sexual violence, but we were starting to see indications that coercive control from a technology perspective was starting to creep into the romantic and intimate relationships of young people. Coercive control is when someone tries to control another through manipulation, pressure and fear, and a recent study from the eSafety Commissioner looked into the normalisation of tech-based coercive control in more than 2,000 Aussie adults aged 18 to 75, including the use of location-sharing apps. It found that about one in five of 18 to 24-year-old participants expect to be able to track a partner using these apps, and that it may stem from childhood experience. JULIE INMAN GRANT: Young people's lives are inextricably intertwined with technology. They're meeting each other online. You know, they're checking out where their friends are on Snap Maps. I mean it's, it, it is part of their daily lives. PERSON: I think it's being accepted so much more now with Snapchat and stuff. PERSON: I wouldn't say normalised. I think it's definitely, like I've had conversations with many of my friends being like, 'Do you wanna show your location?' 'Yeah, sure, whatever.' PERSON: I think 100% it's normalised and I think for some people it might even be an expectation, like I'll even message my friend here and be like, 'Why is your location not on? Where are you?' So, do you think that more people in the future are going to expect to, to track loved ones? PERSON: Yep, as is growing right now, I'm sure the trend's gonna stay the same. That is a big concern for the eSafety Commissioner, who says that particularly for young people who've grown up with this tech, it can be difficult to work out the line between love and care, and dangerous controlling behaviour, which doesn't stop with location-sharing apps. JULIE INMAN GRANT: There were two examples where we saw some concerning trends and that is that almost one in four said that it was reasonable to expect to have a partner's codes or passwords for their personal devices, and, and we also found that more than one in eight agree that constantly texting a partner to check who they're with or what they're doing is usually a sign of care in a relationship rather than a manifestation of control. PERSON: With it being such a new concept, it's so hard to understand because you know we're all trying to learn about. PERSON: When they start, like doing it all the time, getting super insecure, always asking questions. I think that's when the line starts to draw. PERSON: Yeah I think it's a bit of like a hard line to draw, but I think if you're constantly getting a message like I would say more than five times a day really saying, 'oh where are you?' like I think if it's a constant like situation that's arising, I think that's when you have to re-evaluate if it's beneficial for you or not. PERSON: If it's your first relationship, it's been just like a couple of days, a couple of weeks, you, that's a huge expectation to you know, and why are you firstly looking at someone's location? Why are you wondering that much about them? JULIE INMAN GRANT: We've seen families heated out of their homes where the former partner turns it up to 45 degrees, or every time the family turns on their smart TV, there are menacing messages. And then there are more high-tech versions like drones over safe houses, cars that are now largely electronic, that can stall when it goes more than a kilometre away from the family home. We've even seen a cat feeder with a video tracking a person's movements and who is coming into the household. But even stuff like this, this one really gets me, is the whole idea of let's send a grand gesture, I will send a beautiful meal on Uber Eats to my partner to check that she's where she says she is. So, it can be tied up in a grand gesture, but it can also be used in a way that is meant to check on a person's whereabouts in a very covert way. Of course, we can't forget that the main reason location-sharing apps were created is safety, and that is still what they're mainly used for. But, if you find yourself feeling unsure or uncomfortable about location-sharing, experts like the eSafety Commissioner say to trust your gut and set digital boundaries, and if things get really uncomfortable make sure to reach out to the Kids Helpline, Headspace, or talk to a trusted adult. JULIE INMAN GRANT: I don't want to sound like Commissioner gloom and doom. You know, all of this is a balance, right? We want young people to be vigilant, you know, I guess armed but not alarmed. And we, we don't want this to be so normalised that, you know, it changes sort of the fabric of the, the kind of relationships that we're in. PERSON: Make sure you trust the people you share your location with. PERSON: Just really important that it's all you know, consensual and that it's all safe. PERSON: And if they don't know, or they don't give consent, then absolutely not. PERSON: If you have that trust within you two, awesome. But it's also another aspect of trust. PERSON: It's all about communication, and if you're communicating properly, I don't think there's a need to. PERSON: Especially in a modern world, you don't have a lot of privacy, and that just adds to it, you know, it's just a constant sort of feeling of surveillance. PERSON: Yeah, I'd say take whatever you, whatever privacy you can get really.
