Facebook is likely to shut down some of its location-based features, including ‘Nearby Friends’. According to 9to5Mac, Facebook said it will remove all information related to these features from its servers. However, the reason behind the decision is unclear. The Nearby Friends feature was introduced in 2014 for both Android and iOS users.
According to Facebook, such features will no longer be available to users from the end of this month. It said, “Nearby Friends and Weather alerts will no longer be available after May 31, 2022.”
Facebook has been notifying its iOS and Android users, according to 9to5Mac, about the scrapping of the Nearby Friends feature that lets users share their location with other Facebook users. The social media giant further said that Time Alerts, Location History, and Background Location features are also going away soon.
Collection location data
Reportedly, users can access and download their location history till August 1, 2022, later which such information shared earlier will be deleted. This does not mean Facebook will stop collecting user locations. The company will still collect location data for other experiences and users can disable access to the location by changing the iOS privacy settings, 9to5Mac reported.