The Meta-owned social platform Instagram is working on a new feature called “Friend Map.” Essentially, the feature is similar to Snapchat’s Snap Map, where users can access their friend’s location and explore other nearby attractions. Even though the Friend Map feature is being tested internally, it has already been spotted by reverse engineer Alessandro Paluzzi. Let’s dive deep into the new Instagram feature, what it does, and when it will be available.
What Is The Friend Map Feature And How Does It Work?
In a recent report, TechCrunch mentioned that Meta’s spokesperson has confirmed the Friend Map feature. Per the screenshots posted by Paluzzi on Threads, the Friend Map feature allows users to share their location friends on Maps. A short snippet from the screenshots reads, “Find a new excuse to share wherever you’re at with your friends.”
With the Friend Map feature, Instagram users should be able to choose which friends they are with. Further, anything shared with a location tag (for instance, notes about a particular place) will appear on the map. Last but not least, the screenshots also reveal that the location shared by Instagram remains end-to-end encrypted, meaning that even the platform shouldn’t be able to access it, let alone mediators or hackers.
Friend Map Will Contain Several Privacy-Related Options
Further, the feature will also let users control who can see their last active location without affecting the visibility of the notes or tags users leave on the map. Like Snapchat, users will get a Ghost Mode that will hide their last active location from everyone on the app.
With the scale of available information, it looks like the Instagram Friend Map feature could roll out soon. Given that the platform has more users than Snapchat, there’s a good chance the feature will succeed in grabbing users’ attention.
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