Facebook stops its not quite popular feature Nearby Friends. The service will not be available since May 31. The company also removes the weather alerts. It looks like more changes are coming to the popular social network.
Starting at the end of May Facebook users will not be able to share or know the location of the nearby users. The feature Nearby Friends is getting shut down. Users who tried this feature are being noticed by Facebook on the changes that the company provides. It looks like Meta decided to remove all the location-based services. This feature allowed users to see the real-time location of their friends. Once it is down, you will not be able to track other people. Apart from that, Facebook closes services like background location, history of locations, and weather alerts.
Facebook has shared the news on its official Twitter page. The company revealed that they will turn off the Friends Nearby after all the notifications are sent and users are warned. Users have the ability to download the data, including the history of locations, and save it in the cloud till August 1. After that, the data will disappear. Meanwhile, Facebook says that the company will still gather the data on users' locations for other services that are still in demand among the audience.
The feature called Nearby Friends was released on Android and iOS in 2014. The service showed the location of the friends or people you have added as friends. The idea behind this slightly weird service when you start to think of it, was about the ability to connect with friends and join them while they are in your area. Yet, it quickly turned out into an opportunity for strangers to follow people around the territory.
Do you think that Nearby Friends must stay untouched? Do you agree with Facebook's decision? Express your thoughts in the comments below.