Find My Friends allows you to add and request to see the locations of your friends. Their location, if they opt in for it, will be shown on the map. You can also choose to share your location for a short amount of time. This is the perfect way to schedule a meet up with friends, maybe at the cinema or a restaurant.
The app, which requires iOS 5, lets you find your friends by geolocating their iOS devices—presuming your friends have granted you access to that data.
1. When you first launch Find My Friends, you log in with your Apple ID. (If you haven’t already, you’ll need to agree to the iCloud Terms of Service)
2. Firstly, Find My Friends shows you a map with your location. You can choose among the standard default map, a satellite map, or a hybrid view.
3. You invite friends from your address book, but there’s no indication which friends are using iOS devices that support Find My Friends. You’re limited to inviting just four friends at a time, and you can’t select multiple names at once: You add one, go back into the contacts list, add the second, and continue. You can also manually enter email addresses of friends you’d like to invite.
4. Find My Friends is integrated with Maps and Contacts, so you’ll be able to find routes to a specific place or check on the location of someone that’s already in your Address Book.
5. Once you are connected with friends, you can find them—quite literally—on the All tab. Friends appear as differently coloured dots on the map; tap any of them to see more details about their exact location, get directions to them, or review their contact information.
6. You don’t message friends from directly within the app, though it can take you to the Phone, FaceTime, or Mail apps as desired.
7. This page shows you how far they are from you as well, just in case you don’t know the location they are in.
8. From the Temporary tab, you can invite friends to see your current location, but include an end date for when you’ll stop sharing that info.
9. Events can be made in the application, for example “Dinner with Friends”; your location can be temporarily shown just for the event.
Overall, if you find use with knowing the location of friends and family, this is the application for you. Unlike other applications, it’s not something that you’ll grow into using. You’ll either find it necessary or no use in it at all. Parents will find it perfect for keeping up with their children, friends will find it a perfect way to spark a spontaneous meet-up.
Find My Friends
Apple Inc.
Free
Compatible with iPhone, iPod touch, and iPad. Requires iOS 5.0 or later.
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