New WhatsApp feature will let you track your friends' location in real-time
The tool, which is currently in testing, is designed to allow friends to find each other more easily for meet-ups
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.WhatsApp appears to be working on a new feature that would allow users to track their contacts in real time.
Live Location Tracking, as it’s currently known, has been spotted in the beta version of the messaging app, both on Android (version 2.16.399) and iOS (version 2.17.3.28).
With the feature, users will be able to make their current location visible to members of a group chat, allowing them to find each other more easily during meet-ups.
Users will have the option to enable Live Location Tracking for a limited period of time, with one-, two- and five-minute options available.
However, the feature is expected to be disabled by default when it arrives, presumably to assuage any anticipated privacy fears. WhatsApp users will need to manually opt in through the app’s Settings menu.
The messaging app already allows users to share a specific location with friends, but real-time tracking would represent an enormous step up. When exactly the features will graduate from the beta build is unclear for now.
WhatsApp is also rumoured to be working on a tool that would allow users to edit and even recall sent messages, in order to avoid potential embarrassment.
However, it would only work on messages that hadn’t yet been read.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments