Facebook will no longer have some of its location-tracking features by June due to low usage.
Meta spokesperson Emil Vazquez confirmed in an email to The Verge that it's removing some of Facebook's location-tracking features because users barely use them.
The location-based features were added to Facebook after the company acquired the social location app Glancee in 2014, per Tech Crunch.
Facebook's Location-Tracking Features: Which Will Be Removed?
According to The Verge's report, Meta spokesperson Emil Vazquez confirmed that it's removing the previously mentioned services from Facebook due to their low usage in an emailed statement. He also added that users can still use Location Services to manage how their location information is collected and used while the company is "deprecating some location-based features" on the social media platform.
Other location-tracking features that will be removed soon include Location History, Time Alerts, and Background Location.
Meta previously announced it is removing "Nearby Friends" and other location-tracking features on May 5 last week, per 9to5Mac. According to the announcement, "Nearby Friends" and "Weather Alerts" will no longer be available after May 31, and the information users shared to use these services will no longer be collected after the deadline, even if a user previously enabled them.
Meta, previously known as Facebook, Inc., intended its "Nearby Friends" feature to help users meet up with their friends who are coincidentally near them. While it saw some users, users were initially concerned about it due to privacy concerns despite Facebook, Inc. announcing it was an optional feature that users can manually enable if they want to share their location with their friends.
Users who wish to download their location history may do so until August 1 later this year in "Access Your Information." However, doing so after the August 1 deadline will result in a retrieval failure due to the information requested being deleted by then.
Tech Crunch mentioned in its article that the reason behind Meta's failure isn't people's skepticism of the company due to how it handles user information, but because Snapchat won the market Meta wants to take control of thanks to the former's Map feature.
Snapchat's map feature allows users to see their friends' locations and view Snaps users submit to the Map worldwide.
Will Meta Stop Collecting Location Data Soon?
Unfortunately, the removal of these features doesn't mean that Meta will stop collecting users' location information anytime soon. The notice Meta sent to Facebook users mentioned that Meta will still continue collecting location information for other experiences, such as relevant ads and location check-ins, as stated in Facebook's data policy.
However, if you're worried about how Facebook collects your information, you can manually disable Facebook's access to your location. To do so, go to your device's privacy settings and disable the app's access, and find the tab containing your location settings.
From there, you can disable or re-enable Facebook's access to your location at any time.
