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Location sharing, the careful way
Off by default, friend by friend, approximate unless you say otherwise, and never a history. How Friendo’s map works.
By Steven Smith ·
A friends map is fun — seeing that your mates are at the same festival, or that someone’s nearly home. It’s also the feature that needs the most care. Here’s how Friendo’s works.
Off until you switch it on
Every new account starts with location sharing off. Becoming friends with someone doesn’t share anything either. You have to switch sharing on yourself.
Friend by friend
Even with sharing on, nobody sees you until you pick them. For each friend you choose: nothing, approximate or precise. Approximate shows the centre of the roughly 1 km square you’re in — the same square always gives the same point, so lots of updates can’t be averaged to find your front door. Precise is your actual spot, for the few people you really trust.
Ghost mode and no history
Ghost mode hides you from everyone in one tap and deletes your stored position. And there is no location history at all: we keep only your latest position, overwrite it each time, and delete it after the number of hours you choose.
Only while the map is open
Friendo is a web app, and web apps can only use your location while they’re open on screen. Close Friendo or lock your phone and updates stop; friends see when you were last updated. We say this plainly in the app, because a map that looks “live” but isn’t could mislead — and because it means there’s no background tracking. Friendo isn’t a safety-tracking service; in an emergency, call 999.
Nobody should make you share
If someone pressures you to share your location, or checks up on where you are all the time, that’s not OK. Our safety centre lists organisations that can help.