Warning As Snap Chat Adds Map To Share Exact Locations

Social media service Snapchat has introduced a new tracker in its latest update allowing people to see the exact location of their friends. The update allows you to see the exact area, town, street and even house in the street of any user.

The photo and video-sharing app has more than 55 million users in Europe and 10 million daily users in the UK with many young adults using the app. 

There are three setting for sharing your location on the map, these are; Ghost mode, My Friends, and Select Friends. But what do these setting mean?

Ghost Mode
Ghost Mode means that you are the only person who can see your location on the map.
Within Ghost Mode you can still see the locations of your friends but they will be unable to see you. This setting will ensure that you have complete control over who knows your location.

My Friends
My Friends means that all of your contacts on Snapchat can see your location. If turning on this setting then it would be important for users to review their Snapchat contacts and also make sure that they never add someone they don’t know in person onto Snapchat.

Select Friends
This setting allows users to look through their friend list and then decide which of their friends they want to be able to view their location. This setting gives users the opportunity to control who can view their location.

If you want to change the Snapchat settings this can be done in two ways:

In the Snapchat settings
In the Snapchat screen click on the Settings (cog) icon> click on ‘see my location’ > Choose the setting which suits you.

On the Snap Map
Click on the setting button in the top right of the map > choose the setting which suits you.

The Safer Internet Centre has provided the following top tips to keep yourself and others safe:

• Only share your location with people you know in person. Never share your location with strangers.
• Don’t add contacts to Snapchat if you don’t know them in person.
• Regularly review your settings and take an active decision about whether you want people to know your location. Remember you can switch this off at any time. Think about where you’re sharing your location. Location services such as Snap Maps can lead people to your house. Think about what times you’re on the app and whether these are locations you want to share – if not, then turn this off within your settings.