Snapchat will soon be able to alert parents when their kids arrive or leave certain places

Snapchat brings improved location sharing Family CenterParental controls are central, the company announced Thursday.

Users have been able to share their location with others on Snapchat for a while now, but the new addition allows parents to receive an alert from the app’s Family Center when their teenager leaves or arrives at certain locations (such as school). Previously, parents had to find their teen on Snap Map or go to their profile to see where they were; This new feature makes it easier for parents to keep track of their child as they can see their child’s location directly in Family Center.

When parents first set this up, they send a request asking their teenager to share their live location; Notifications can be set for up to three locations on Snap Map. This way, parents can receive alerts when their children leave school, arrive for piano lessons, and leave for home.

With this new feature, Snapchat may be looking to take over Life360, a popular service that allows families to track each other’s whereabouts and receive updates when family members arrive at or leave certain places.

“We’re adding travel notifications to Family Center to give parents added peace of mind knowing their teen showed up to class, left gym practice on time, or even returned home after a night out with friends,” Snapchat wrote in a blog post.

Parents will also soon be able to see who their teens have shared their location with on Snapchat. Additionally, Snapchat will begin nudging users who choose to share their location with all their friends on the app to review who they’re sharing their location with.

Snapchat says more than 350 million people use Snap Map every month and these new features will allow families to stay connected while out and about.

The new features announced on Thursday will be available in the coming weeks.

Snapchat first launched Family Center in 2022 to allow parents to gain insight into how their teens are using the social networking app. In response, the company launched the central augmented pressure From lawmakers who want social media apps to better protect young users on their services.

Since the hub’s launch, Snapchat has updated it to: additional features occasionally to help parents protect their young. However, parents may not even be aware that these tools exist. Earlier this year, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel said that 20 million teenagers in the US use Snapchat and that approximately 200,000 parents Use Family Center surveillance controls.