Find My Friends is an Apple app that uses GPS to find a friend’s location when they are using an Apple device like the iPhone or iPad.
The app may sound cheesy, but it has some definitive advantages.
This is extremely helpful for meeting a friend at a new coffee shop, picking up a relative at the airport or keeping track of family members throughout the day.
Apple has added a lot of new functionality into Find My Friends in iOS 6 that is worth checking out even if you’ve written off Find My Friend’s before. Some of the options now available are temporary location sharing, and going off the grid.
With an easy to use interface, Find my Friends is setup in several simple steps.
How to Setup Find My Friends
To setup Find My Friends first go the app store and download the Find My Friends app. Once it downloads the app should appear on the home screen like so.
Tap Find Friends
Enter the Apple ID and Password used with iTunes, then select Sign In.
As soon as the account is logged in there will be a screen like the one above. If friends have already been added they will appear on the map with the last place available like above.
Tap the map to have a better view of the friends in your area like the example above.
To add friends Select + in the top right corner.
Enter the email address, or name of the contact to add friends to the app. Once finished enter a personal message if you need to, and select Send.
To accept invitations select the requests tab in the bottom right of the screen.
Once Find My Friends is set up, and some friends join the account there are many options in how the user can use the application.
Find My Friends Temporary Sharing
One of these ways is to use the Temporary feature to share your location for a short while. This could be useful while planning a trip with coworkers or family who you don’t want to always know your location.
To set up a temporary location Select Invite Friends.
Enter the contact information for the friend and then also put the event name, and time. Only those invited will be able to see each others place. Also, as soon as the even is over the location privileges expire.
Find My Friends Going Off the Grid
Another feature of Find My Friends is the ability to go off the grid. This allows users to turn off location sharing with their friends.
Select the Me tab and turn Hide from Followers to ON.
Find My Friends Notifications
Find My Friends also allows individual notification settings for each friend. To do this tap on the map from the friends tab.
Choose the friend to change notifications for by tapping their dot and Selecting the blue information circle.
Once the friend is selected Tap Notify Me.
The options of notifications are for whether the friend leaves or arrives at their current address, or an address the user enters. By default notifications are enabled for when friends leave their current location.
Overall the Find My Friends app is useful in certain situations. The ease of use, and ability to connect with friends makes the app fun and helpful for users.
