Sick of watching your friends’ awesome Snapchat stories and wishing you could be there in real time? Well now you can just show up… basically.
Snap Maps, which was launched this week, plots users’ whereabouts on a world map in real time.
How does it work?
The feature uses location trackers on your phones to show exactly where you are – and what you’re doing.
All you have to do is access your camera -beware of front facing camera syndrome.
Pinch the screen, or do a zoom out touch motion with your fingers, and you can view the Snap Map.
You can view the map and allow friends to see your location, and story if you have posted one at the location you took it.
What will you see on the screen?
Anyone who has chosen to share their location will appear on the map as an “Actionmoji” – a cartoon avatar that changes to reflect what the user is doing.
By tapping on an avatar, users can see the latest additions to that user’s Snapchat Story, chat with them over the app or go to meet them in person.
The appearance of your Actionmoji on the Snap Map will change, depending on what Snapchat thinks you’re doing.
For example, if it thinks you’re sunbathing on the beach, it will show your Actionmoji lying under an umbrella; if it thinks you’re walking through an airport, it will show your Actionmoji pushing a trolley; and if it thinks you’re sitting listening to music, it will show your Actionmoji wearing headphones.
Snapchat deduces what you’re doing by looking at things like your location, the time of day, your speed of travel, and whether or not your headphones are plugged into your phone.
Your Actionmoji only updates when Snapchat is open, and if a Snapchatter has not opened the app in several hours, their Actionmoji will disappear from the Map.
Tricks to use
You can search the map in ‘Ghost mode’ – when this is enabled your friends will not be able to see your location, but you can see theirs.
You can do this by following those steps:
1. Open the Snapchat app and go to the Camera function
2. Pinch to zoom to launch the Snap Map
3. Tap on the settings gear in the top right hand corner
4. Tick the box that says “Enable Ghost Mode”.
It’s a powerful new tool for Snapchat, which currently boasts over 55 million daily users in Europe – 10 million of which are here in the UK. However, many users are against the idea as it’s reflected as a “stalking” or worse, a “bullying” tool; and most parents are opposing Snap Map.
In total, there are three billion snaps sent each day; more than enough to fill up your local Snap Map.