Instagram adds live location sharing to its messages

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Today, Meta announced that multiple new updates are coming to Instagram’s direct messages, including location-sharing support.

The company mentioned in the blog post that the feature is designed to make it more convenient for people to arrange hangouts directly from their Instagram conversations.

The post reads, “Spend more time together, and less time coordinating.” 

You can now share your live location on Instagram

Apple had a similar Find My Friends feature, which is now integrated into its Find My app. The feature enables users to share their location in real-time with other people. 

Now, Instagram has adopted this, providing its users with access to a similar feature that allows them to share their location with friends, family, and others directly from the social network. 

However, due to privacy concerns, the location can only be shared individually through DMs or in group chat.

The feature is also disabled by default, and users can only share their location for an hour—after that, Instagram ends the location sharing automatically.

In addition, the app will also show an indicator indication when you have shared the location. 

Unfortunately, Instagram does not always allow you to share your location with your friends and family. Still, Meta recently confirmed that it was testing a feature like Snap Map that displays friends’ locations on a map. 

That said, the feature has yet to be made available. 

In addition to the new location-sharing feature, Instagram has introduced 17 sticker packs with 300 new stickers, which can be used in DMs and nicknames for your Insta friends.

You can get the Instagram app for iPhone for free on the App Store.

You need to install the latest version of the app to access the new features, but remember that Meta says the location-sharing feature is only available in a select few countries. 

Will this feature change how you use Instagram? How important are messaging features for you when using Instagram? We would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below, or via our Twitter or Facebook.