Facebook Messenger adds temporary live location sharing

Facebook today introduced temporary live location sharing inside Messenger, letting friends and family track your movements an hour at a time. You can choose to share your location with a single person or with a group. “People tell us that live location is super helpful when trying to coordinate with friends, telling people how close you are when you’re on your way to an appointment or even sharing where you are with your roommate when you’re on your way home at night,” the company said in a blog post.

Facebook Messenger shared your location with friends automatically until 2015, when the company replaced replaced automatic sharing with a feature that let you send a single, static location on a map. To use the new live location, you’ll have to tap the location icon inside Messenger. (It may be buried in the “More” tab.)

When you share your location, your recipients will be able to see where you are on a map for 60 minutes. Messenger will also show you an estimate of how long it would take you and your friend to get to one another’s location by car.

A countdown clock shows you how much longer your location will be shared by default. You can also choose to shop sharing your location early if you like.