Instagram is developing an opt-in “Friend Map” feature that will allow users to see the locations of their friends in real time, a Meta spokesperson confirmed to TechCrunch on Monday. The company says the feature, similar to Snapchat's Snap Map, is an internal prototype and has not been tested externally. This feature was first discovered by Reverse's engineer Alessandro Paluzzi, who often discovers social media features in development prior to their official release.
If Instagram plans to officially launch Friends Map, it would be copying yet another popular feature from Snapchat, after copying the app's core Stories feature in 2016. Instagram will also bring Apple and its “Find My” maps feature to users. See where your friends and family are currently located. With this new feature, Instagram is giving users new reasons to spend less time on third-party services and more time on its own apps.
Instagram also has an opportunity to appeal to people who were fans of Zenly, the social mapping app that Snap acquired but shut down last year.
According to a screenshot posted by Paluzzi on Threads, Instagram's Friend Map will allow users to choose who can see their location. The screenshot also shows that location data is encrypted end-to-end. You can choose to share your location with your followers who follow you back, your Close Friends list, or with no one. This map also includes a “ghost mode” setting that hides your last active location.
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Friend Maps allows users to leave short messages, or “notes,” on the map for others to see. Instagram notes are currently short messages that appear at the top of your direct messaging feed, but once Friends Map goes live, users will have the option to post these short updates on the map. The notes feature on the map allows you to do things like notify a friend about a fun pop-up shop you discovered or a new restaurant you're currently eating at.
The news comes as Instagram works to enhance its in-app map offering. In late 2022, the company introduced a searchable map experience. This allows users to explore popular tagged places around them and filter location results by specific categories such as restaurants, cafes, and hair salons. The searchable map launch comes a week after Google senior vice president Prabhakar Raghavan said younger users are turning to apps like Instagram and TikTok instead of Google Search and Maps to find new places. It was done later.
Instagram, which has moved into one of Google's core businesses, may now be trying to take on Snapchat and Apple with Friend Map.