Snapchat will let users share their real-time location with friends

Image: Snapchat

The new way of keeping tabs on friends will be on the ephemeral messaging service. Real-time location sharing is meant to be used as a temporary buddy system while friends and family are on their way to a date or home.

The feature is similar to the Find My app, where users can see and share precise location. For 15 minutes or a few hours with individual users, the setting can be enabled on the app, but only between mutual friends. Users can pause sharing without sending the other party a notification in order to lower the risk of stalkers. There is no option to share real-time location with all of your friends.

Users can enable the setting by navigating to a friend's profile and selecting the duration of location sharing. The status of live location sharing is visible in the chat window.

This is the first live location feature. The option to let friends see where you were when you last used the app is already available.

It's On Us is a national nonprofit program focused on stopping campus sexual assault. The in-app message about bystander awareness will be included with the buddy system feature.