Whether it’s on your way home from a night out or en route to a new destination, there are often times when it’s reassuring to know that a friend knows your location.
Now, Snapchat has made it even easier to keep track of your friends, with the launch of its new ‘buddy system’ tool.
The tool, similar to one available in Whatsapp, allows users to share their real-time location with a chosen friend for 15 minutes, one hour or eight hours.
‘This is a first-of-its-kind feature for Snapchat, that we built based on feedback from our community about how they were using Snap Map with their friends,’ a Snapchat spokesperson explained.
Snapchat has made it even easier to keep track of your friends, with the launch of its new ‘buddy system’ tool
Since 2017, Snapchat has given its users the option to share their location with their friends on the Snap Map – a tool used by more than 250 million users.
However, the new tool will let users share their real-time location with a chosen friend for between 15 minutes and eight hours.
‘We built this feature with several safety-minded elements, such as on the spot and intentional activation so Snapchatters can share their location in an instant, and only with individual friends,’ Snapchat explained.
‘There is no option to send their real-time location details with all of their Snapchat friends.’
To activate the feature, users must have a mutual friendship with their chosen buddy, meaning both parties have to accept each other as a friend on the app.
Meanwhile, users can choose at any time to deactivate the feature, should they no longer want to share their real-time location.
If you want to share your live location with a buddy, simply open the Snapchat app, and tap on the chat icon at the bottom of the screen.
Hold down on the name of the friend you’d like to share your live location with, and tap View Friendship.
Under Snap Map, tap Share my Live Location. A pop-up will appear, reminding you that the tool is only for trusted friends and family – if you’re happy to go ahead, tap ‘Sounds Good.’
Next, you’ll be asked to choose the duration you’d like to share your Live Location for – 15 minutes, one hour or eight hours.
Your friend will then be able to track your live location! If you would like to stop sharing at any time, simply open your chat with them, and tap ‘Stop Sharing.’
The buddy system comes shortly after Snapchat announced that it is finally letting users change their username on the app.
Your Snapchat username is set when you first create your Snapchat account, and until now has been unchangeable for security reasons.
Since 2017, Snapchat has given its users the option to share their location with their friends on the Snap Map – a tool used by more than 250 million users
‘When we first launched Snapchat in 2011, we structured our platform around accounts with unique usernames, much like email accounts at the time,’ Snapchat explained.
‘In order to rebuild that framework, we had to develop a new way to identify each Snapchatter without asking our community to build new profiles from scratch.
‘Now, we’ve implemented a User ID-based system that provides flexibility when it comes to usernames.’
To change your username, open the Snapchat app and tap the Bitmoji icon in the top right corner of the Camera to head to the profile screen.
Select settings by tapping on the gear icon in the top right corner of the profile.
Tap ‘Username,’ just below Name, and select ‘Change Username’ marked in blue.
Type in a new username, hit next, and log back in to Snapchat to finalise.
While users can now change their usernames, there are some important caveats.
Snapchatters will only be able to change their username once a year, and will be unable to revert to any previously owned usernames – including their own.