Is Snapchat Tracking Your Child's Location?
PASADENA (CBSLA.com) — Could strangers find your child in a snap?
There are new safety concerns surrounding the popular mobile app Snapchat's new map feature that shows the exact location of its users. Unless the location feature is disabled, Snapchat "friends" can have access to your child's location.
"Somebody's watching you all the time and it's a little scary," said Valencia resident Michelle Bernstorff.
And even scarier? Private information about your kids made public.
"I'm a pretty private person so having anybody know where I am or my kids are at is a little disconcerting," Bernstorff added. She has two daughters, Rebecca and Heidi.
"It's a huge invasion of privacy," said Heidi, who is a Snapchat user. "Nobody needs to know where I am."
The update has even prompted the Murrieta Police Department to put out an alert warning of the new feature. The warning on Facebook got lots of comments from concerned parents like Vivian Lo, who wrote: "My daughter showed me this. So detailed. Scared me. Going to ghost."
Ghost means not allowing your location to be shown on Snapchat.
"I will definitely disable that," Lo wrote.
Due to privacy concerns, Heidi is going "ghost." She disabled her Snapchat locator.