04:29
Messaging apps are gaining more and more features with every new update, and now the Facebook Messenger app for iOS and Android has included the ability to send a friend a map with your location.
There are multiple reasons as to why you’d want to send a friend your
location. Perhaps you’re meeting each other at a restaurant and he
doesn’t know where it’s at. You can search for it within Facebook
Messenger and send him the map of where it’s located. You can also send a
map of your own location to tell a friend that you’re running behind
and when he expects you to arrive.
Previously, Facebook automatically tracked your location if you had
location services enabled for the app, which meant that your location
was sent along with each message you would send as well. Your recipient
could easily just tap on your message and a map would appear showing
where you were when you sent it.
Of course, you were able to disable the app from accessing your location,
but that still didn’t necessarily make it right. Pretty much any app
that tracks your location like that is going to get a lot of flack
eventually from its users as they find out, and it looks like it finally
happened for Facebook.
The company has since gotten rid of that feature in favor for this
new location feature that’s a bit more user-friendly, where you’re in
control of when a recipient can see your location.
If this is something that you’re interested in, then here’s how to share your location with your friends in Facebook Messenger.
On iPhone/iOS
To send your location to someone through Facebook Messenger, it’s just a quick couple of steps and it’s really easy to do.
First off, tap on the More icon while in a conversation window (it’s the icon with the ellipses).
From there, tap on Location at the top and a new screen will pop up. You can tap on Current Location
to send your friend the location that you’re at now, or you can select
from the list below of places. If the place you want to meet at isn’t in
the list, you can search for it using the search bar at the top.
Once you know what location you’re going to use, tap Send
in the upper-right corner. After you send them a location of some sort,
it’ll show up as a small map in the conversation pane. From there, they
can tap on the map and then get directions using Google Maps or Apple
Maps.
Of course, you first need to enable location services for Facebook Messenger on your iPhone. To do this, navigate to Settings > Privacy > Location Services and then find Facebook Messenger in the app list. Tap on it and then select While Using the App.
This gives the Facebook Messenger app permission to access your
location when you want to use the new location feature within the app.
On Android
With Facebook Messenger for Android, sending someone your location works nearly the same way as it doesn’t on iPhone.
Simply tap on the ellipses and then select Location.
From there, you can send them your current location or the location of a
restaurant or other establishment. Once they receive it, it will also
show up as a small map in the conversation pane where they can then get
directions using Google Maps.
Again, this feature is only enabled when the user wants it to be.
Facebook got rid of the automatic location tracking (most likely from
negative customer feedback) and introduced a better way of doing things.
Just like with iPhone, you’ll need to enable location services in
Android settings for Facebook Messenger before you can share your
location with a friend within the app.
Of course Facebook Messenger isn’t the only messaging app that has
this kind of capability. Apple’s own iMessage comes with the ability to
send your location right from within the app, although you unfortunately
can’t send the location of some other locale, so Facebook has the upper
hand here.
Facebook Messenger has a ton of other features, including the ability
to send photos, emoji, audio messages, and even send money to a friend
through the app. You can also video chat and call friends over WiFi.
