Snapchat will let parents request their teen’s real-time location

Once known lone for its self-destructing pics, successful caller years Snapchat has sneakily evolved into a location-oriented societal media app. It’s present leaning further than ever into that individuality with a caller real-time determination sharing diagnostic that allows household members to stock their unrecorded locations with each other. The diagnostic volition rotation retired alongside different caller determination and privateness tools successful the coming weeks.

Once you person the update, you’ll spot an enactment successful the Family Center that lets parents petition their teen’s locations, and vice versa. The hub volition besides let parents to presumption their child’s location-sharing settings alongside existing privateness settings to guarantee they’re utilizing the app safely and responsibly. If that’s not enough, Snap is allowing household members to nonstop automatic question notifications, which volition ping them erstwhile you’ve arrived to oregon near from 3 designated locations, specified arsenic location oregon school.

The timing of of these features’ accomplishment feels a spot unfortunate for Snap, considering its app’s arguable quality successful the quality of precocious related to privateness and information concerns. An ongoing lawsuit from New Mexico’s lawyer wide Raúl Torrez alleges that Snapchat knowingly ignored warnings and evidence that the level is being utilized to people and exploit minors with soliciting tactics for “sextortion” and “sexploitation” activities.

It besides calls retired different questionable uses specified arsenic income of amerciable weaponry and substances, though that is hardly exclusive to Snapchat. Torrez cited the fleeting quality of the platform’s “Snaps” — impermanent messages, photos, and videos that are permanently erased aft a acceptable clip — arsenic a diagnostic that straight conflicts with the wide work to support its users safe.

With the added imaginable dangers posed by determination sharing, we’re people funny to larn however Snap plans to assuage mounting fears portion maintaining the archetypal tone of its platform. For now, it’s toeing the enactment cautiously by making determination features accessible lone by opting in, limiting determination sharing strictly to friends and family, and perpetually reminding users to reappraisal their privateness and sharing preferences whenever they adhd idiosyncratic new.