Snapchat brings Footsteps feature on iOS: What is it, how to use, privacy concerns and more

Snapchat has added a new ‘Footsteps’ feature on the iOS version of the app. The feature isn’t new but was previously available to Snapchat+ subscribers. The feature relies on Snap Map and lets people know where they’ve travelled and explored the world. Here’s everything you need to know about Snapchat Footprints.

What is Snapchat Footsteps
Snapchat Footsteps is a location tracking feature which keeps a log of all the places you’ve travelled to by keeping track of where you’ve been on the Snap Map when the Ghost mode is turned off. The feature, in the beginning, utilises your posts and then it solely moves to location data to run the Footsteps feature.

“The first time you use Footsteps, we’ll use your Memories that have a location attached to them to backfill your Footsteps so you have something to start with. This is a one-time thing, so after that, we’ll no longer use any new Memories to add to your Footsteps”, reads the official support page.

Privacy concerns
The feature raises several privacy concerns including location data safety, memory sharing, etc. However, Snap has ensured that this location data is only taken to calculate where you’ve been and the data is shown only to users unless they want to share it with others. Moreover, memories are used only in the beginning and post that the feature solely relies on the location data. Apart from these, Snapchat also lets users disable the Footsteps feature completely.m