Nearby Friends is a feature on Facebook that allows users to share their locations with friends and see which of their friends are nearby. It has prompted questions about how exact the location sharing is and whether Nearby Friends provides your precise GPS coordinates.
What is Nearby Friends on Facebook?
Nearby Friends is an optional feature that Facebook launched in 2014. It allows you to share your location with specific friends and to see which of those friends are nearby. This feature only works with friends you have approved to see your location.
To use Nearby Friends, you first enable location services on your mobile Facebook app. You can then choose which friends you want to share your location with by adding them to your Nearby Friends list. Friends do not get added to your Nearby Friends list automatically. You have full control over which friends can see that you are nearby.
Once Nearby Friends is enabled with a list of friends, those friends will be able to see if you are nearby. This works two ways – you can also see which of your chosen friends are close to your location. Nearby Friends has a radius of around 1 mile.
On the Nearby Friends screen, it will show a list of nearby friends with an approximate distance (e.g. 0.2 miles away). Tapping on a friend from that list allows you to share your precise location with them for a set period of time. This temporarily overrides the approximate 1 mile radius and means they can see exactly where you are.
Does Nearby Friends show your exact GPS location?
Nearby Friends does not automatically reveal your precise GPS coordinates to your chosen friends. Without interacting further, the feature simply shows them which of their selected friends are within about 1 mile of their location.
However, users can choose to temporarily share their exact GPS location with specific friends. This is optional and must be initiated by the user. They can select a friend from the Nearby Friends list and choose to share their precise location data with that friend for 15 minutes, 1 hour or until the end of the day.
This temporary exact location sharing will reveal the user’s GPS coordinates on a map for the chosen friend. But it is time-limited and user-initiated rather than a constant live feed of their location.
Proximity indicators
Without opting into temporary precise location sharing, Nearby Friends simply shows approximate distances between users. It uses proximity indicators like:
- “Less than 1 mile away”
- “1-2 miles away”
- “2-3 miles away”
- “More than 5 miles away”
These proximity indicators reveal a rough estimate of distance rather than pinpoint coordinates. A user would have to specifically choose to share their exact real-time location for a friend to get their precise GPS data.
How does Nearby Friends approximate locations?
Nearby Friends determines a user’s approximate distance from their Facebook friends through various location data points. Some of the location data sources it likely uses include:
- GPS data from a user’s mobile device
- Location information from a user’s IP address
- Check-ins, location tags and geo-tagged posts
- Location history and mapping data from Facebook’s apps
This information provides enough signal for Nearby Friends to estimate which friends are within about 1 mile of each other. It does not necessarily provide exact coordinates, but gives a good approximation of proximity.
Why proximity indicators vs. exact locations?
Nearby Friends uses proximity indicators rather than constant precise locations for user privacy. Someone’s exact GPS coordinates can reveal a lot of contextual information about what they are doing and where they are going. Approximate distances provide a solid indication of whether a friend is nearby without overexposing their real-time whereabouts.
The feature aims to strike a balance between location sharing and privacy. Users maintain control – they pick the friends to share with and have to manually enable temporary precise location sharing.
When does Nearby Friends show your precise location?
There are a couple instances when Nearby Friends will reveal your exact GPS coordinated location rather than just proximity:
- When you specifically choose to share your live location with a friend for a set duration (15 min, 1 hour, until the end of the day). This is optional.
- If you open the Nearby Friends map view, friends you have shared your location with can see your precise location on the map in real-time. Turning off location sharing removes you from the map view.
Outside of those two user-initiated scenarios, Nearby Friends sticks to proximity indicators rather than pinpoint locations. It aims to balance utility and privacy by allowing temporary precise sharing while avoiding oversharing of location by default.
Does turning off location stop location sharing?
Yes, disabling your own location services on your mobile device or within Facebook stops Nearby Friends from working and switches off any location sharing.
When you turn off location access for Facebook on your phone, your location will no longer update in Nearby Friends. You will also disappear from the map view if a friend had opened that.
Similarly, if you manually disable Nearby Friends within Facebook’s settings, it switches off location sharing through the feature and removes you from your friends’ maps and proximity lists.
Turning off location either on your device or in Facebook is an effective way to fully stop Nearby Friends from sharing your location. Your friends will no longer see your proximity or be able to view your coordinates on a map.
How to turn off Nearby Friends location sharing
You can turn off Nearby Friends location sharing in two ways:
- On your mobile device, disable location access for Facebook through your device settings.
- In Facebook, go to Settings & Privacy > Location Services and toggle off Nearby Friends.
Using either method will prevent your location from being visible through the Nearby Friends feature. Turning location access off for Facebook is the most comprehensive way to fully disable location sharing across Facebook.
Is Nearby Friends location sharing mandatory?
No, sharing your location through Nearby Friends is completely optional. There are a few aspects that underline the optional nature of the feature:
- You have to manually enable Nearby Friends. It is off by default.
- You pick the specific friends you want to share with.
- Friends do not see your precise location without additional consent.
- You can toggle location sharing off at any time.
Your location is never shared automatically through the feature. You have full control to turn it on or off and determine who can see that you are nearby. Opting in is voluntary.
Nearby Friends participation is optional
Key aspects showing the optional nature of Nearby Friends location sharing:
- Opt-in only – Disabled by default
- User picks friends to share location with
- No constant access to precise locations
- Can revoke access and turn off at any time
Users have full discretion over if, when, and with whom they share their location via Nearby Friends.
Pros and cons of Nearby Friends
Here are some key benefits and drawbacks of using Nearby Friends for location sharing on Facebook:
Pros
- Allows you to see which of your friends are close by
- Optional and customizable location sharing
- Manually share your precise location for a set duration
- Easy to use and available on mobile
Cons
- Drains your battery if location sharing is enabled
- Privacy concerns around FB having access to your location data
- Buggy or inaccurate proximity indicators
- Can be distracting to constantly check for nearby friends
Overall, Nearby Friends provides helpful location sharing features with a decent amount of user control. But it comes with some battery life and potential privacy trade-offs to consider.
Conclusion
Nearby Friends does not automatically reveal your exact coordinates to your Facebook friends. By default, it shows approximate distances of nearby friends rather than pinpoint locations.
Users can opt to temporarily share precise GPS locations with specific friends. But this is a manual, time-limited action rather than passive constant location tracking.
Participation in Nearby Friends is also completely voluntary. You must opt in, select friends to share with, and can disable location sharing at any time.
In summary, while Nearby Friends allows temporary access to your precise location, it does not by default reveal your exact real-time GPS coordinates to your friends on Facebook.
| Location access | Enabled by default? | User control |
|---|---|---|
| Approximate distance/proximity | No | Can disable feature entirely |
| Temporary precise location sharing | No | User initiates and selects friend and duration |
| Constant precise location access | No | Not possible without additional user action |
In summary, Nearby Friends proximity indicators and temporary location sharing provide helpful context without fully exposing your real-time whereabouts. Users ultimately have control over if, when, and how their location is shared through the opt-in feature.