Police warn Snapchat’s new location sharing feature should be used carefully

There are concerns kids in the North East could be putting themselves at risk, by using a new Snapchat feature to share their location.

'Snapmap' is a new feature that lets you share exactly where you are 24/7 with friends on the app, but there are concerns it could be unsafe.

NSPCC campaigns manager for the North of England, Helen Westerman, said:

“Obviously the mapping has not been designed with children in mind and if children broadcast their location it can be seen by everyone in their contact list. So, predators could use this feature to locate children.

“We’ve had parents very concerned that their children could access this without them knowing how to set tit to the ‘ghost mode’ which ensures children can’t broadcast their location.”

Detective Inspector Sharon Chatterton, from Northumbria Police's Cyber Crime Unit said:

“We know social networking sites play such an important part of everyday life for so many people, but unfortunately there are potential risks. It’s so important we make people aware of the dangers and what can be done to avoid them and encourage online safety.

"We would advise those using Snap Chat, to check the settings of the app to ensure they don't broadcast their whereabouts to strangers. We would advise users not to share their location with people they don't know in person.

"This can easily be done by turning the feature off on the phone, by setting the app to 'ghost mode'. We would also advise parents to do this on their child's phone, for them to stay safe.

"We want to encourage all users of this app to consider their personal safety and to make sure they check the settings are appropriate on their app."

A spokesperson for North Yorkshire Police said:

“Officers from the Neighbourhood Policing Teams within North Yorkshire Police would like to make parents aware of the following update that has released on snapchat. If your children have the Snapchat app and GPS on their phone please take a look at this.

“It seems with the new update there is a new feature on Snapchat. When you open the app place two fingers on the screen and drag them together 'pinch' just like when zooming out on an interactive map. This will then open the new feature. It shows your location with near exact accuracy and can be only a couple of meters wrong.

“This means people can see exactly where you are at any time. To turn this off there is a settings button in the top right and can turn the feature to ghost mode. This will hide your location from others. Also turn off the phones GPS as an extra level of security.

“If you need any help please contact your phone provider or visit an O2 store and speak to one of their gurus. This is a free service and regardless of the network you are on. The gurus can help with any technical questions and security advice. Please remind your children to only have 'friends' on these apps who they actually know, this will keep them safer online.

“While we have focused this on keeping children safe. Please be mindful features like this could be used by criminals, knowing when you're out or even where you live. Always be mindful of posting pictures with cycles and such which would show people exactly where you store them. Then show when you are out.”

We've not heard back from Snapchat on the safety concerns.

For further information about online safety visit [https://www.getsafeonline.org/