Snapchat unveils location-sharing features to safeguard teen users

Photo messaging app Snapchat will soon add location-sharing features to Family Hub, its in-app hub for parental tools and controls, to safeguard teenage users against harm.

Parents and caregivers can now send a request asking their teens to share their live location, and can also share their location back. The app hub already allows parents to view their child’s privacy and safety settings.

The new feature allows families to pick three specific locations on the Snap Map, like home or school, for their children. When young users arrive at or depart from those locations, caregivers receive notifications on their phones.


Snapchat’s new features come as social media companies come under scrutiny on how their platforms affect the lives of young people. The photo-sharing platform has millions of teenage users, and it enforces guidelines to limit inappropriate content to them.

From a privacy point of view, the app keeps location settings off by default and only gives the option to share it with an accepted friend.

Earlier this year, Snapchat had announced features to protect teens from online harm, including improved blocking capabilities, simplified location-sharing, enhanced friending protections and expanded in-chat warnings.

In September, Meta’s Instagram said it is making teen accounts private by default as it tries to make the platform safer for children. It said teens will also get notifications if they are on Instagram for more than 60 minutes and a "sleep mode" will be enabled that turns off notifications and sends auto-replies to direct messages from 10 pm until 7 am.

The Mark Zuckerberg-led company faces lawsuits from dozens of US states that accuse it of harming young people and contributing to the youth mental health crisis by knowingly and deliberately designing features on Instagram and Facebook that addict children to its platforms.