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Snapchat adds Snap Map to show users where their friends are

Photos and video within the app can now be found by location.
Photos and video within the app can now be found by location. Photos and video within the app can now be found by location.

Snapchat has added a map to its photo sharing service, enabling users to view photos and videos based on location for the first time.

The new Snap Map can be used to find existing friends as well as view content from popular events going on nearby, Snapchat said.

Snap Map
Snap Map
(Snapchat)

By zooming out from the app’s camera screen to view the map, users are also able to choose which friends can see their location, as well as hide it entirely using “Ghost Mode”.

The photo and video-sharing app has more than 55 million users in Europe and 10 million daily users in the UK.

Rival photo-sharing app Instagram already uses a mapping feature, which enables users to see content based on where it was posted.

Snapchat
Snapchat
(Kirsty O’Connor/PA)

Instagram and fellow Facebook-owned apps WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger have placed increasing pressure on Snapchat in recent months – adding features to their own platforms similar to that of Snapchat.

Snapchat’s parent company Snap Inc recently launched its first hardware product in the UK – video-enabled glasses called Spectacles, which record 10-second clips and save them to a user’s Snapchat account so they can be shared with friends.