WhatsApp now lets you share your location live

Whether you're meeting up with friends, letting loved ones know you're safe, you can share your commute

WhatsApp on Wednesday announced that users will now be able to share their location in real-time with friends on their contact list.

"Today, we’re rolling out a new feature that allows you to share your location in real-time with family or friends. Whether you're meeting up with friends, letting loved ones know you're safe, or sharing your commute, Live Location is a simple and secure way to let people know where you are," the company said in a blog post.



With this latest live location feature, the company follows in the footsteps of parent company Facebook as the social media giant launched a temporary location sharing feature back in May.



To use live location, simply open a chat with a person or group, head to the location tab in the attachment options. Tap on share live location and your location will be shared in real time.

You can also set a timer for how long you want to share your location. The messaging service lets multiple people share their locations simultaneously by creating a real-time map of all the live locations being shared.

With privacy a potential problem, WhatsApp has promised that, like all of its other messaging functions, location sharing will be end-to-end encrypted with the timer having an added security function.



Locations have gotten quite the attention recently as Snap launched Snap Maps for its Snapchat service. Although the feature worked well with Bitmojis appearing on the map but caused attracted a lot of criticism with regards to privacy as everyone in your contact list was able to see where you are unless you hide your location.

Hopefully, WhatsApp will address this problem. If you haven't received the update yet, it should arrive soon for both iOS and Android devices.