Social media platform Snapchat unveiled a buddy system-like function on Friday that allows users to share their current position with pals for a limited time.

According to the corporation, the safety feature is being handed out as more individuals return to school campuses, travel, go out on dates, and do other things they did before the epidemic. Users may share their real-time positions with a buddy for 15 minutes, one hour, or up to eight hours using the function, which is comparable to Apple’s Find My app.

The film was created in collaboration with It’s On Us, a group launched in 2014 to address sexual assault on college campuses.

Snapchat’s Snap Map feature, which only updates a position when the user has the app open, has allowed users to share their locations with others since 2017. Snap Map has 250 million monthly users, according to the business.

Snapchat said in May that it had hit 500 million monthly active users. According to a Snap Map poll, 78 per cent of its US app users would not hesitate to reveal their locations on the app, and the majority of them do so as a safe method to communicate with people.

The new feature, like the Snap Map, will be turned off by default. Snapchatters may share their whereabouts “in an instant,” but only with certain pals, according to the business.

The business has limited the amount of time and which Snapchatters may share their immediate location to lessen the danger of stalking.

By browsing to a friend’s profile and pressing on a new option that enables live sharing, Snapchatters may begin using the function. The software prompts users to share the function exclusively with trusted friends and family, according to a pop-up PSA.

Snapchatters will be allowed to alter their usernames starting at the end of February, a function that was previously inaccessible in the United States.

(Adapted from CNN.com)