Is Snap Map safe for kids?

• Off by defaultYour teen has to turn location sharing on.
• 13 and upSnapchat is for ages 13 and over.
• Ghost ModeHides your teen from others on the map, for a time or until turned off.
• Watch for public SnapsStories sent to Snap Map are public.

What Snap Map is

Snap Map is the map inside Snapchat. Snapchat is for ages 13 and up.¹ Location sharing on the map is off by default, and once it's on, only the people your teen chooses can see where they are.² Common Sense Media points out that once it's turned on, it can show your teen's exact location.⁵

What to check with your teen

• Who can see them. Snap Map lets your teen share with everyone they're connected with, everyone except a few, or only people they pick.² Go through the list together.
• Ghost Mode. It hides your teen from everyone on the map, for 3 hours, 24 hours or until they turn it off. Snap says their location is still shared with Snap while it's on.³
• Public Snaps. Stories submitted to Snap Map are public, and can be shown on the map and off Snapchat.⁴ Snap says Snaps sent to the map can show up whatever location setting your teen picked.³ Talk about what's in the background of a photo before it goes there.

Snapchat's Family Center

Family Center lets a parent ask a teen to share their live location. If the teen accepts, the parent sees it in the app, and can set a notification for when the teen arrives at or leaves saved places.⁶ It also shows who your teen has chatted with recently, without showing their messages.⁷

How Outft is different

Snap Map is one feature of a big social app. Outft is built around location sharing for families and small crews:

• Nothing is public, ever. No public posts on a map, no public profiles, no username search, no "people you may know". Buds connect in person with a QR code or with a private invite link.
• Approximate by default. Buds see nothing until your kid shares with them, and then only the neighborhood unless your kid chooses more.
• Even we can't see it. Location is end-to-end encrypted on the phone, so our servers can't read where anyone is, in ghost mode or out of it.
• Honchos without snooping. In Outft, a parent is a Honcho. Honchos see where their kid is and get arrival alerts, never their photos or their Buds' locations, and your kid can always see what you see.
• No ads. We make money from family subscriptions, so there's nothing to sell your kid's attention to.

Outft is coming soon to iPhone and Android, both on the same day. Why teens push back on tracking apps, and what helps