Instagram is taking over Snapchat with a new location sharing feature

Instagram introduces the power for users to share their locations with friends via DM (direct messages) – company announced on Monday. The feature indicates that the Meta-owned social network desires to challenge services like Apple’s “Find My” and Snapchat’s Snap Map, that are popular ways to ascertain the location of friends and family members in real time.

The launch of this feature is not a complete surprise, as earlier this 12 months it was noted that Instagram was testing a way for users to see their friends’ live locations. It’s price noting that one other Meta messaging app, WhatsApp, has been allowing users to share live locations with others for quite a while.

Unlike Apple and Snapchat, which let you share your location with others indefinitely, Instagram only allows users to achieve this for an hour. Instagram says this feature might be used to coordinate arrival times or find friends in crowded places.

You can share your location with one person or in a group chat. When you share your location, only people in a specific chat will give you the chance to see where you might be, and your location can’t be shared with other chats. You’ll also see an indicator at the highest of your chat reminding you that you just’re currently sharing your current location.

All lively locations expire after one hour. Given that WhatsApp permits you to share your location with others for as much as eight hours, it’s possible that Instagram’s deadline on location sharing could change in the long run.

According to the corporate, the new feature is available in chosen countries. TechCrunch asked for more details.

On Monday, Instagram also announced that users can now customize their chat names by adding nicknames for themselves or others. The company says this feature might be used to share insider jokes or just shorten long usernames.

You can create a nickname by tapping the chat name at the highest of the conversation after which choosing “Nicknames.” Here you’ll be able to select the username of the person you must assign a nickname to. Nicknames are only visible in your DMs.

Additionally, Instagram is rolling out 17 new sticker packs with over 300 stickers that might be shared in chat.