Snapchat will let parents seek their teen’s authentic-time location

Once understandn only for its self-destructing pics, in recent years Snapchat has sneakily betterd into a location-oriented social media app. It’s now leaning further than ever into that identity with a new authentic-time location sharing feature that permits family members to split their live locations with each other. The feature will roll out alengthyside other new location and privacy tools in the coming weeks.

Once you have the modernize, you’ll see an chooseion in the Family Cgo in that lets parents seek their teen’s locations, and vice versa. The hub will also permit parents to see their child’s location-sharing settings alengthyside existing privacy settings to promise they’re using the app protectedly and responsibly. If that’s not enough, Snap is permiting family members to sfinish automatic travel notifications, which will ping them when you’ve reachd to or left from three portrayated locations, such as home or school.

The timing of of these features’ arrival senses a bit unblessed for Snap, pondering its app’s contentious ecombineance in the news of tardy roverhappinessed to privacy and protectedty troubles. An ongoing litigation from New Mexico’s attorney vague Raúl Torrez alleges that Snapchat understandingly disthink aboutd cautionings and evidence that the platcreate is being engaged to aim and utilize insignificants with ask foring tactics for “relationstortion” and “relationsploitation” activities.

It also calls out other askable engages such as sales of illegitimate armamentry and substances, though that is difficultly exclusive to Snapchat. Torrez cited the escapeting nature of the platcreate’s “Snaps” — transient messages, pboilingos, and videos that are enduringly erased after a set time — as a feature that straightforwardly struggles with the vague responsibility to hold its engagers protected.

With the compriseed potential dangers posed by location sharing, we’re naturpartner asking to lget how Snap set ups to assuage mounting troubles while upgrasping the one-of-a-kind spirit of its platcreate. For now, it’s toeing the line nurturefilledy by making location features accessible only by chooseing in, confineing location sharing harshly to frifinishs and family, and constantly reminding engagers to appraise their privacy and sharing pickences whenever they comprise someone new.