Snapchat Adds Location Sharing to Family Center

Snapchat has announced new location-sharing features coming to Family Center, the in-app hub where parental tools and resources live. With over 22 million monthly active users in Saudi Arabia and 1-3 from ages 18-34 in the UAE using the platform, Snapchat has grown to have one of the most popular maps on mobile. More than 350 million people use the Snap Map every month to share their location with their friends and family to help stay safe while out and about, to find great places to visit nearby, and to learn about the world through Snaps from around the globe. Soon, new Snap Map location-sharing features in Family Center will make it easier than ever for families to stay connected while out and about. 

With a new button in Family Center available now, parents and caregivers can send a request asking their teen to share their live location. It’s also easy for parents to share their location back—keeping everyone in the family on the same page about each other’s comings and goings once they’ve opted in. 

Already in Family Center, parents can view many of their teen’s privacy and safety settings, and soon, they’ll have visibility into location-sharing selections too. This will allow parents to see which friends their teen shares their location with on Snap Map, helping families have informed conversations about what sharing choices work best for them. 

Families will soon be able to choose up to three specific locations on the Snap Map, like home, school, or the gym, and parents will receive notifications when their family member departs from or arrives at those designated locations. Snapchat is also adding travel notifications to Family Center to give parents more peace of mind knowing their teen has arrived at class, left sports practice on time, or even returned home after a night with friends. 

On Snapchat, location sharing is always off by default, and there is no option to ever share location with someone who is not an accepted friend. For people who do share their location with all of their Snapchat friends, the platform is adding new in-app reminders to review their selections. Snapchatters will see a pop-up when they add a new friend who may be outside their real-world network, prompting them to be extra thoughtful about their settings. 

“We have a longstanding commitment to helping give young Snapchatters and their parents the tools they need to stay safe online. Family Center was built to help parents and teens navigate the digital world and review safety and privacy settings together, and the new location-sharing features are just one example of how we’re empowering families to stay connected and informed. Our goal is to keep expanding Family Center with new features that make our service even more useful, fun, and meaningful for families on Snapchat,” said Jawaher Abdelhamid, Head of Public Policy, Middle East and Africa at Snap Inc. 

These features will be rolling out over the coming weeks.