A new feature Nearby Friends has been built into Facebook‘s mobile app. The social network claims, it would allow Facebook users to find or locate which of their friends are close by and help them to arrange a meet up.
Facebook’s ‘Nearby Friends’ is intended to help friends meet offline precisely sums up the definition of the feature. It uses the geo-location technology in user’s smart phone to determine when he or she is close to any of his or her Facebook friends. He is then be notified occasionally if any of his friends included in the group is in close vicinity. For instance, when you’re headed to the movies, Nearby Friends will let you know if friends are nearby so you can see the movie together or meet up thereafter.
The feature is however optional. This implies, you can choose it to be ‘ON’ should you wish to participate in activity allowing you to share your precise location with friends. Users who do not wish to activate Nearby Friends won’t be affected in any way. It’s just that they would be requested to restrain their urge from sharing or receiving any location information from others on the platform.
A small tutorial stands ready to guide you on every topic pertaining to the feature use. At first, it advises you to select the groups on Facebook with which you would want to share your location since, you can’t share your location with the public or with friends of friends. It is limited only to friends or other groups that you have created.
Also, you won’t immediately be able to see a friend’s exact location or pinpoint exact coordinates. The app fails to specify a distance closer than 0.5 miles, but can readily discover people at furthest distance. Nearby Friends can nail your exact location to a friend, only if you choose to share the location on a map for a set amount of time (until noon).
Upon selecting the option, you friend will be in position to access your exact location in real-time. It is particularly noteworthy to mention here that once switched on, the feature won’t be turned off automatically. It will continue to broadcast your location until deactivated manually turned off.
Turn off Facebook Nearby Friends
To turn Nearby Friends on or off on an iPhone or Android:
- Tap More
- Tap Nearby Friends
- Tap Settings icon
- Tap Location Sharing.
To turn push notifications on or off for Nearby Friends on iPhone or Android:
- Tap More
- Select Account Settings > Notifications > Mobile Push
- Choose whether to turn push notifications for Nearby Friends on or off.
Facebook also addresses the fears of users over sharing data about the places they visit most often. It could be frightening for some, isn’t it? Worry not! Facebook assures, users at any point can delete this data from the Facebook servers by clearing their activity within settings of the app. Currently, the social network explains, ‘Nearby Friends’ is only rolled out in the United States, but will be coming out to users in the near future, soon. Nothing surprising, as this is the approach the social network giant adopts whenever it integrates new features or implements new products.
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