Find My Friends Obsoleted by iOS 8?

[dukee101]

Is the Find My Friends app obsolete now that iOS 8 includes location sharing in the Messages app? (tap 'Details' in the upper-right of a conversation)

What's the point of having the app if it's already integrated elsewhere?

 

[GreyOS]

Is the Find My Friends app obsolete now that iOS 8 includes location sharing in the Messages app? (tap 'Details' in the upper-right of a conversation)

What's the point of having the app if it's already integrated elsewhere?

you can set up notifications and see more friends at once

edit: wish you could get to find my friends from messages > details. (you can currently go to maps when you enlarge the map and press the info button.)

 

[Sherifftruman]

Plus, to send the location in Messages, you have to do it yourself, right? Find my Friends works from the other end with no user input (which could be good or bad depending, I guess)

In my case, if I go for a run, my wife can see where I am without me having to stop and respond to a text. Or if I am driving and she wants to see how far away I am without me having to text in the car.

 

[dukee101]

Plus, to send the location in Messages, you have to do it yourself, right? Find my Friends works from the other end with no user input (which could be good or bad depending, I guess)

Not exactly. The location sharing feature in Messages works the same as Find My Friends. It's still "passive" in that once you agree to share location, you don't have to follow-up after that.

 

[Stuke00]

Yeah find my friends app offers a lot more features. Able to see all locations in 1 place. Arrival and location change notifications are in the app.

 

[dukee101]

Yeah find my friends app offers a lot more features. Able to see all locations in 1 place. Arrival and location change notifications are in the app.

You can also use Siri to locate friends if you have the Find My Friends app. i.e. "Where is dad?"

 

[macduke]

They should just fold "Find My Friends" into the contacts section of the phone app or perhaps the map app. I hardly use the app anymore since my wife doesn't drive across the state for her job any more, but now she has a geo fence setup so that when I leave work she will start dinner.

 

[dukee101]

They should just fold "Find My Friends" into the contacts section of the phone app or perhaps the map app.

I'm totally with you macduke, that's why I started this thread! I realized most of my Find My Friends usage was very person-specific, and almost always tied to communicating with them. ("Should I call/text this person? Are they at home? Which number should I dial? Can I FaceTime?") I don't need the ability to track many people at the same time, I'm not running a CIA sting operation.

So since iOS 8, I've been falling back on location sharing built into Messages, but the problem is it's hard to access. You have to find the conversation for that person, tap Details, etc. And Siri won't help you either.

I agree with you and suggest Apple bakes this into Contacts and Maps. Don't see why they wouldn't...