Facebook Nearby Friends: What Happened to It and What Replaced It
Facebook shut down Nearby Friends in May 2022. Here is what the feature did, why it ended, and how location sharing works for families on today's apps.
If you remember a setting on Facebook that let friends see when you were close by, you are thinking of Nearby Friends. Parents often asked about it because it could tell a teen's friends, roughly, where that teen was at any moment. The feature no longer exists, but the question behind it is very much alive: which apps share your family's location, and with whom?
This guide explains what Nearby Friends did, when it disappeared, and where location sharing lives in 2026.
What Nearby Friends was
Nearby Friends was an optional feature in the Facebook mobile app, introduced in 2014. When you turned it on, Facebook used your phone's location in the background and sent you a notification when friends who also had it turned on were nearby. You could choose which friends were included, and you could share a more precise location with specific people for a set period of time.
For adults, it was a convenience. For teens, it raised obvious questions: a list of "friends" on Facebook often included people a teen barely knew, and an alert saying someone was "less than a mile away" was more information than many parents wanted floating around.
What happened to it
In May 2022, Facebook told users it was retiring Nearby Friends together with several related tools: Weather Alerts, Location History and Background Location. The features stopped working on May 31, 2022. Facebook said the change was due to low usage. Users had until August 1, 2022, to download their stored location history before it was deleted.
That does not mean Facebook stopped using location entirely. It can still use information such as your IP address, check-ins and the places you tag to show you local content and ads. What ended was the continuous, friend-to-friend sharing of where you were.
Where location sharing lives now
The idea behind Nearby Friends did not go away. It moved to other apps, some of which are very popular with teens.
| App or service | How location is shared | What parents should know |
|---|---|---|
| Instagram Map | Launched in 2025; opt-in sharing of your last active location with followers you follow back or a Close Friends list | Off by default. With supervision set up, parents are notified if a teen turns it on and can control it |
| Snapchat Snap Map | Shows a friend's Bitmoji on a map if they share their location | Ghost Mode hides location. Check who the teen shares with |
| Apple Find My | Shares location with family members or chosen contacts | Built for families; works with Family Sharing and Screen Time |
| Google Family Link | Lets parents see a child's Android device location | Parent-controlled; the child can see that it is on |
The pattern is the same as it was with Nearby Friends: the risk is not the map itself but who is on the list of people who can see it.
A quick location check for your family
Use this as a short routine a couple of times a year, and any time your child gets a new phone or app.
- Check the phone's own settings first. On an iPhone, go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services and review which apps can use location and when. Our guide on turning off location services on a child's phone walks through it.
- Open each social app's location option. On Snapchat, look at the Snap Map settings and consider Ghost Mode. On Instagram, check whether location sharing on the map is on, and who it is shared with.
- Look at old posts. Photos tagged with a home address, school or regular practice field tell a story over time, even if no single post seems risky.
- Decide who genuinely needs live location. For most families, that is parents and maybe a grandparent, not a list of hundreds of followers.
- Set up a family tool on purpose. If you want to know where your child is, use a tool designed for that. Our article on location sharing on iOS covers Find My and Family Sharing.
Talking with teens about location
Teens often share location with friends as a sign of closeness, and turning it off can feel like a statement. That makes a calm conversation more effective than a blanket ban. A few points tend to land:
- Location is different from a photo. A picture shows a moment; a live map shows a pattern, such as when the house is empty or which route they walk home.
- Friend lists grow. The people who can see your location today may not be the same group in six months.
- It can be used to pressure you. Some teens report friends or partners expecting them to keep location on as proof of where they are. That is worth naming as a red flag.
- Pausing is normal. Most apps let you stop sharing for a while without deleting anything.
If your child is on Facebook, the tips in our 5-minute Facebook privacy checkup cover the other settings worth a look.
The bottom line
- Facebook's Nearby Friends ended on May 31, 2022, and there is nothing to switch off on Facebook today.
- Live location sharing now happens mostly on Snapchat, Instagram's map and phone-level tools like Find My and Family Link.
- Review phone-level location permissions first, then each social app, then who is on each sharing list.
- Keep live location to a short list of people your child would trust with a house key.
Frequently asked questions
Does Facebook still have Nearby Friends?
No. Facebook retired Nearby Friends, along with Location History and Background Location, on May 31, 2022, citing low usage.
Can my friends see my location on Facebook now?
Not live, the way Nearby Friends worked. Location can still show up on Facebook when you tag a place or check in to a post, so it depends on what you choose to share.
What is the best way to share location with my kids instead?
Use a tool built for families, such as Apple's Find My with Family Sharing or Google Family Link, where you control who sees the location and can turn it off.