**Snapchat Unveils New Location Notifications for Parents and Guardians**
Parents and guardians now have a fresh tool to assist in keeping track of their children’s activities, as **Snapchat** launches its **latest location notifications** feature for supervised accounts. This enhancement is included in Snapchat’s **Family Center**, aimed at improving the safety of teenagers. The feature utilizes the app’s widely used **Snap Map** to alert parents when their teens are moving around, making it akin to services like **Life360** and **Find My**.
**Location Sharing and Notifications**
While location sharing has been accessible to all Snapchat users through Snap Map for some time, this new tool permits parents to request their teen’s real-time location at any moment. Furthermore, parents can share their own whereabouts with their children. Caregivers can set up to three designated locations and receive notifications when their teens arrive at or depart from these areas. Supervisors can also oversee location-sharing activity within the Family Center, although teens can only share their location with friends on their list.
**Safety Measures for Teens**
Snapchat has been consistently augmenting its safety features in light of increasing worries regarding youth safety and mental well-being on social media. The platform has rolled out a variety of initiatives to safeguard young users, even as it draws in new users with offerings like **Gen AI tools** and integrated **shopping** features.
In 2022, Snapchat introduced **Family Center**, a tool intended to assist parents in keeping tabs on their children’s interactions within the app. It enables parents to see who their teens are connecting with, report inappropriate conduct, and manage screen time. However, its capabilities are somewhat more restricted compared to other parental control applications like **Bark**.
In 2023, Snapchat took further steps to bolster its safety protocols by implementing protections to prevent unwanted interactions from strangers and reducing search visibility for teen users. The platform also defaults to blocking location sharing for minors and enforces the most stringent content settings for younger audiences.
**Enduring Issues**
Despite these advancements, Snapchat still faces criticism. Recently, the company has been accused of permitting **sextortion and grooming** on its platform, amid a wider trend of lawsuits targeting social media platforms for allegedly marketing their services to youth despite recognized dangers. A lawsuit lodged against Snapchat contends that the platform did not adequately verify user ages, address safety issues, or properly warn users about the risks of sexual predation.
As Snapchat continues to enhance its safety features, it remains under examination for its approach to youth safety on the platform.