You Can Now Share Your Location on Instagram, but Some Users Don't Want To

In the race to keep every social media app relevant, new features are a constant part of the equation. Meta announced on Aug. 6 that one of the new features they would be adding to Instagram would allow users to share their locations with friends using a map feature.

This is an evolution of the app's previous capabilities, which allowed users to share their locations through posts or stories. It's also a functionality that some users might want to turn off. Here's what we know about the feature, and how you might turn it off if you don't want to use it.

Instagram's new location-sharing feature uses a map to allow users to see where their friends are on Instagram. Of course, there are many apps on our devices that track our location, and Instagram already did. This new feature is just designed to give you a sense of where all your friends are at any given time, although it's a social sharing feature you might not want if you'd like some privacy.

In its initial announcement, Meta emphasized that the location-sharing feature was off by default, adding that users had to opt in in order to activate it. The company is clearly aware of how much this could violate users' privacy, and so they want to make sure only those people who want to use it do. Meta is also making it clear that it's a feature you can turn off at any time, so if you'd like to do that, we can offer you some guidance on how.

Here's how to turn location-tracking off on Instagram:

• Go to the Instagram map in the inbox of your DMs
• Tap the icon to open the map itself
• Selection the Settings icon, and then click "Turn off/on location services"
• Tap "Open Settings"
• Once you're in the Settings app on your phone, choose "Never" to ensure that you stop sharing your location, and Instagram never prompts you to share it again.

There was a period of time when phones were tracking your location whether you wanted them to be or not, but more recently, users have gotten the chance to opt into location sharing. It can be convenient for certain apps like weather, but it's certainly also a functionality that opens you up to plenty of privacy concerns.

Of course, this new functionality is something you can already do natively on Apple devices.

Typically, sharing your location is useful only in circumstances where the person you've shared it with is very close to you, either a direct family member or a very close friend. It might also be useful in more limited circumstances where you're trying to find someone in a particularly crowded place, but you can turn that functionality on and off so that it's not always available. Instagram has not invented something new, then, but simply added it to its suite of tools.