Instagram is working on a feature that lets you track your friends’ live locations

Instagram says it is working on a feature that lets users track their friends' live locations, similar to rival Snapchat’s ‘Snap Map’.

Dubbed ‘Friend Map’, the feature was first spotted by Alessandro Paluzzi, a popular engineer online who points out social media features in development before they are launched.

Per the screenshots Paluzzi shared, it seems that ‘Friend Map’ will be open for users to choose whether to share their location and who to see it.

The options are friends who you follow back, followers in your ‘Close Friends’ list, or no one. The location data will be end-to-end encrypted.

Additionally, the screenshots show that Instagram users will be able to leave Notes-like messages on the map for friends to see.

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Instagram’s parent company, Meta told the American technology publication TechCrunch that the feature is currently an internal prototype and is yet to be tested externally.

Snapchat’s ‘Snap Map’, launched in 2017 has gained popularity over the years and it allows users to select from ‘Ghost Mode’ (not sharing location), ‘My Friends’ or ‘Select Friends’.