Would you be okay with this?
WhatsApp is reportedly working on a feature that will allow users of the app to keep track of their friends and contacts (pending their permission) in real-time.
Thankfully, you get to decide if this happens or not but it definitely could be viewed as an invasion of privacy, even if it would be handy when you lose your mates.
Amongst a number of new features spotted in the beta version of WhatsApp on both iOS and Android is one called live location tracking, which will enable WhatsApp users to share their location in real-time with their fellow WhatsApp contacts.
WhatsApp users can currently share a specific location with fellow contacts, but live-location tracking will enable their contacts to see exactly where they are for a predetermined amount of time (1, 2, 5 minutes or indefinitely); a handy tool if, for example, you’re trying to find out what pub your mates are in of a night out when they’re too lazy to tell you themselves.
The feature was spotted by WABetaInfo on Twitter earlier this month and, as is evident on the screengrabs below, it is likely that the option will be disabled by default if and when eventually introduced in an effort to maintain the privacy of those (of which there will no doubt be many) who would rather not activate the setting.
2.17.3.28 iOS | 2.16.399+ Android: Live Location feature, that tracks the live location of other group participants (DISABLED BY DEFAULT). pic.twitter.com/pYEXT1nxyR
— WABetaInfo (@WABetaInfo) January 26, 2017
Live location tracking is just one of a number of new features reportedly being tested in the Beta version of WhatsApp; another, of course, is a feature that would reportedly allow users to edit or delete messages they’ve already sent… imagine how handy that could be of a drunken Saturday night?
