# Snapchat Adds Location Sharing to Family Center: Advancing Safer Social Media for Teens
Snapchat, a leading social media platform, has recently revealed an important enhancement to its **Family Center** feature by incorporating **location sharing** functionalities. This new capability is designed to strengthen parental supervision, equipping parents and guardians with tools to track their teens’ locations in real time. With over **350 million users** accessing the **Snap Map** each month, this update represents a significant move in Snapchat’s commitment to enhancing safety and transparency for younger audiences.
## What is Snapchat’s Family Center?
Snapchat’s **Family Center** functions as an in-app resource aimed at providing parents and guardians the means to better grasp and manage their teens’ activities on the platform. Already encompassing insights into teens’ interactions, the Family Center also presents resources to assist parents in guiding their children’s social media engagement. The newly introduced **location-sharing** capability is a vital addition to this resource, enabling parents to track their teens’ live locations.
### How Does the New Location Sharing Functionality Operate?
With the latest update, parents are now empowered to send a **location-sharing request** directly to their teens through the Family Center. If the teen agrees, their live location will be accessible to the parent. Furthermore, parents can choose to share their own location with their teens, fostering a reciprocal communication link centered on safety and transparency.
In addition, the Family Center will soon enable parents to check their teen’s **location-sharing settings**, offering insights into which friends their child has shared their location with on Snap Map. This feature is tailored to provide parents with enhanced control and awareness of their children’s social activities and movements.
### Travel Notifications: An Additional Safety Measure
Another exciting addition Snapchat is launching is **Travel Notifications**. Parents can designate up to three specific locations—such as home, school, or a gym—and receive alerts when their teen arrives at or leaves these spots. This feature brings an additional layer of safety, ensuring that parents stay informed about their child’s whereabouts without the need for constant app checks.
### Privacy and Safety Features
Alongside location-sharing, Snapchat is also improving the **privacy and safety features** accessible to parents via the Family Center. Soon, parents will have increased visibility into their teen’s privacy settings, assisting them in ensuring that their child uses the app safely and responsibly. This initiative aligns with Snapchat’s broader mission to balance user privacy with parental oversight, especially for younger individuals.
## Why Snapchat is Launching These Features
Snapchat’s rollout of these functionalities is part of a wider trend in the tech arena aimed at providing more **parental control** options, particularly for applications utilized by teenagers. Social media platforms are facing heightened scrutiny concerning their impact on teen safety, and Snapchat is no exception. By implementing these features, Snapchat strives to give parents greater control over their children’s app usage while still respecting the privacy and independence of its younger users.
Nevertheless, while these functionalities are a positive development, some critics argue that they may not be the most effective or secure approach to sharing real-time location data, especially for iPhone users.
## Apple’s Find My: A More Comprehensive Location Sharing Solution for iPhone Users
For iPhone users, **Apple’s Find My** feature is often viewed as the benchmark for location sharing. While Snapchat’s new offerings are beneficial, **Find My** provides a more thorough and secure mechanism for sharing location data within families.
### How Does Apple’s Find My Function?
Apple’s **Find My** feature enables users to share their location with family or friends in real time, granting a high level of control over who can access their location and for what duration. In contrast to Snapchat, which is accessible on both iOS and Android, **Find My** is specific to Apple devices, delivering a more integrated experience for iPhone users.
### Steps to Set Up Location Sharing on Find My
iPhone users can follow these straightforward steps to share their location via Find My:
1. **Open the Find My app** on their iPhone.
2. **Tap “Share My Location”** and select the contact they wish to share it with.
3. Choose whether to share location **indefinitely** or for a specified time frame.
4. After location sharing is activated, parents can tap on their teen’s contact on the map and establish **notifications** for when they arrive at or leave designated locations, such as home or school.
Additionally, Apple’s **Check In** feature, launched with iOS 17, further boosts safety by allowing users to automatically alert a trusted contact if they fail to reach a specified location within a designated timeframe.
### Why Apple’s Find My is a Superior Choice for iPhone Users
While Snapchat’s location-sharing feature is a welcome advancement, **Find My** presents several benefits for iPhone users:
– **Enhanced Control**: Users have improved control over who can view their location and for how long.
