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globalist

macrumors 6502a
Aug 19, 2009
748
264
In case you didn't notice, FMF uses quite a reliable backend solution for the maps data - namely Google Maps. Maybe Apple realize they can't just up and switch FMF over to the inferior solution of their own :apple: Maps? :D
 

roadbloc

macrumors G3
Aug 24, 2009
8,784
215
UK
Find My Friends is too creepy for me. I don't want to find my friends and I don't want them to find me. If we're meeting up, we'll agree a location.
 

Badrottie

Suspended
May 8, 2011
4,317
335
Los Angeles
I can understand some friends never use fmf app just because it is too ceepy and they don't want them know where they are so Apple should rename this app to "Find my Family" instead. :apple:
 

Hyper-X

macrumors 6502a
Jul 1, 2011
581
1
I'm not a fan of any person tracking app unless it's for very specific needs. If you want to keep tabs on your kids or anyone with special needs, I see the merit of using such an app or feature.

However being that I'm in the security-field, I'm quite biased to the concept of how this could serve to invade someone's privacy as I'm sure not everyone enjoys the idea that someone else has tabs on you at their convenience.

So you might be considering responding with "well you can disable location services for the app" but not everyone's as iOS savvy as you are. What may be simple for you may not necessarily hold true for someone else. The saying goes, you could make something very simple and you'll eventually learn of someone who still has difficulty with it.

If you install an app with the feature set of FMF's, IMHO you're consenting to the possibly that you may be tracked for "other than good" reasons. So for example, if a kid in school suddenly gets mugged after school because what he/she thought were their friends were in reality weren't... well you get the idea.
 

Gutwrench

Suspended
Jan 2, 2011
4,603
10,530
So you might be considering responding...The saying goes, you could make something very simple and you'll eventually learn of someone who still has difficulty with it.

As soon as you make something idiot-proof, they make a better idiot.

Such is life.
 

C DM

macrumors Sandy Bridge
Oct 17, 2011
51,390
19,458
Find My Friends is too creepy for me. I don't want to find my friends and I don't want them to find me. If we're meeting up, we'll agree a location.
So you simply don't use it. There are well defined controls in the app for those that do want to use it as far as who you want to be able to see your location or simply to turn off your location.
 

GlenK

macrumors 65816
Aug 1, 2013
1,437
874
St. Augustine, FL
We don't use it either but told my wife yesterday that it sucks being a kid today. No place to hide. When our parents looked for us they needed a search party. Now it's just a few clicks and there you are.

Seriously I would like to use it but we just haven't tried it yet.

I do like the idea of it being in maps though!! Good thinking!!
 

Ledgem

macrumors 68020
Jan 18, 2008
2,034
924
Hawaii, USA
Dislike the idea. When I use Find Friends it's because I want to find where someone is. The thread author is unhappy because he attempted to use Find Friends for Maps purposes. If I want to do that, I'd use Maps.

Instead of merging the two apps into one, better integration to make it easier to switch from Find Friends to Maps would be a better choice.
 

Cougarcat

macrumors 604
Sep 19, 2003
7,766
2,553
Dislike the idea. When I use Find Friends it's because I want to find where someone is. The thread author is unhappy because he attempted to use Find Friends for Maps purposes. If I want to do that, I'd use Maps.

Huh? No, functionally it would be the same. His point is that having a separate app is redundant.

I think the larger issue is that FMF is not part of the OS, and it (obviously) relies on friends to be useful. It would be a lot easier to get someone to use it if they didn't have to download anything.
I should be able to send someone my location and know that they will be able to see it because they use iOS, just as easily as I send an imessage.
 

Ledgem

macrumors 68020
Jan 18, 2008
2,034
924
Hawaii, USA
Huh? No, functionally it would be the same. His point is that having a separate app is redundant.
Just because Find Friends uses a map to display its information doesn't make it redundant. The primary goal of Maps relates to finding static information on a map. Find Friends is about finding someone's dynamic location. Because they both utilize information on a map it would technically be possible to merge the two, but in my opinion that would make Maps needlessly bloated.

I should be able to send someone my location and know that they will be able to see it because they use iOS, just as easily as I send an imessage.
You can. Go into Maps and tap on the blue dot that indicates your present location. This will bring up a little bubble that says "Current location" - tap it to bring up the Maps entry for that location. Now tap "Share" at the upper right-hand corner of the screen. You can send via text message, email, Twitter, or Facebook; if you're sending to another iOS user, they'll be able to bring it up within Maps from your text message.

Find Friends is about passively finding the location of others, not about forcefully notifying others of your location. Functionality-wise, it doesn't make sense to use Find Friends to do what I just described above.
 

Cougarcat

macrumors 604
Sep 19, 2003
7,766
2,553
. Because they both utilize information on a map it would technically be possible to merge the two, but in my opinion that would make Maps needlessly bloated.

How so? It's not like FMF has a lot of options. They could replace the share button with a FMF one, and have all the options on one scrolling screen, including the old share option (or just get rid of it entirely, and replace it with a web option for non-iOS users.)

Now tap "Share" at the upper right-hand corner of the screen. You can send via text message, email, Twitter, or Facebook; if you're sending to another iOS user, they'll be able to bring it up within Maps from your text message.

That is not the same, as it just sends a static location.
 
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Ledgem

macrumors 68020
Jan 18, 2008
2,034
924
Hawaii, USA
How so? It's not like FMF has a lot of options. They could replace the share button with a FMF one, and have all the options on one scrolling screen, including the old share option (or just get rid of it entirely, and replace it with a web option for non-iOS users.)
...
That is not the same, as it just sends a static location.
I'd agree that Find Friends has a very limited set of options and they could afford to do more there, but I don't see how that translates into needing to merge it with Maps. And if you want to have someone view your dynamically changing location, they can do it from within Find Friends. I feel that I'm probably missing something in what you're thinking, though; could you expand further?
 

Cougarcat

macrumors 604
Sep 19, 2003
7,766
2,553
I feel that I'm probably missing something in what you're thinking, though; could you expand further?

It goes back to my point of needing it to be built-in to the OS to be most useful, since I don't have to worry if a friend has installed it or not. And at that point, I think they may as well roll it into Maps. I don't think it justifies a separate app,
at least with its current feature set. But if Apple started to include FMF by default, I'd be happy.
 

Ledgem

macrumors 68020
Jan 18, 2008
2,034
924
Hawaii, USA
It goes back to my point of needing it to be built-in to the OS to be most useful, since I don't have to worry if a friend has installed it or not. And at that point, I think they may as well roll it into Maps. I don't think it justifies a separate app,
at least with its current feature set. But if Apple started to include FMF by default, I'd be happy.
I see. Personally, I don't think that it makes a difference; you would need to tell someone to enable Find Friends to use it, anyway, so having to ask them to download it first is one small, extra step that wouldn't get in the way of having it used.

There'a a bit of a trade-off between offering the feature and making it too easy to use. Aside from privacy concerns, being able to see a person's location in near-real time is rather powerful. While there's a chance that someone could still accidentally enable the feature and grant someone access, it's less likely by not including the application with the phone by default. Baking that functionality into Maps would increase the risk of that happening, though.
 

Cougarcat

macrumors 604
Sep 19, 2003
7,766
2,553
I see. Personally, I don't think that it makes a difference; you would need to tell someone to enable Find Friends to use it, anyway, so having to ask them to download it first is one small, extra step that wouldn't get in the way of having it used.

For them sharing their location, yes. But you should be able to send an iOS user your dynamic location and have it work without them having to configure or install anything.

And a "small, extra step"...not really, when you're dealing with my parents ;) The techies already have it installed, it's trying to use it with everyone else...the less friction there is, the better.

There'a a bit of a trade-off between offering the feature and making it too easy to use. Aside from privacy concerns, being able to see a person's location in near-real time is rather powerful.

I suspect this is the reason it's the way it is--note that the app requires your password if you don't have a passcode set. Perhaps when all iOS devices have fingerprint sensors Apple will be more willing to integrate it. But if they kept it the way it is now, I see no reason why they couldn't include the app by default.
 

LordQ

Suspended
Sep 22, 2012
3,582
5,653
This app is creepy... Seriously, I know two or three stories about stalking boyfriends and girlfriends using this app.

And I don't see how is this better over Foursquare.
 

PNutts

macrumors 601
Jul 24, 2008
4,874
357
Pacific Northwest, US
Find My Friends is too creepy for me. I don't want to find my friends and I don't want them to find me. If we're meeting up, we'll agree a location.

I can understand some friends never use fmf app just because it is too ceepy and they don't want them know where they are so Apple should rename this app to "Find my Family" instead. :apple:

There's a toggle to hide yourself from all your followers. It's also handy to find someone at a large fair or concert.
 

C DM

macrumors Sandy Bridge
Oct 17, 2011
51,390
19,458
This app is creepy... Seriously, I know two or three stories about stalking boyfriends and girlfriends using this app.

And I don't see how is this better over Foursquare.
Foursquare doesn't allow you to follow the current location of various people that authorized you to do so without any input on their part after they have authorized you. Foursquare doesn't allow someone else who you authorized to follow your location or see where you are after you've authorized them and without any more work on your part after that. Fairly different use cases there.
 

sflomenb

macrumors 6502a
Jul 22, 2011
915
132
It's pretty disappointing... I use this frequently. Hopefully it gets updated soon.
 

Zcott

macrumors 68020
Oct 18, 2009
2,307
47
Belfast, Ireland
Nothing creepy about FMF; each side has to approve sharing the location before it's active. Actually shows a level of trust between two people to say 'I trust you enough to show you where I am at all times'.

Also handy for knowing when my wife is on her way home so I can put the dinner on.
 

viewfly

macrumors 65816
May 1, 2009
1,263
24
Should They Kill Find my Friends?

I'm not a fan of any person tracking app unless it's for very specific needs. If you want to keep tabs on your kids or anyone with special needs, I see the merit of using such an app or feature.

However being that I'm in the security-field, I'm quite biased to the concept of how this could serve to invade someone's privacy as I'm sure not everyone enjoys the idea that someone else has tabs on you at their convenience.

So you might be considering responding with "well you can disable location services for the app" but not everyone's as iOS savvy as you are. What may be simple for you may not necessarily hold true for someone else. The saying goes, you could make something very simple and you'll eventually learn of someone who still has difficulty with it.

If you install an app with the feature set of FMF's, IMHO you're consenting to the possibly that you may be tracked for "other than good" reasons. So for example, if a kid in school suddenly gets mugged after school because what he/she thought were their friends were in reality weren't... well you get the idea.

From your incorrect points it's clear that you never looked at the app or how it works ...
 

Solomani

macrumors 601
Sep 25, 2012
4,785
10,477
Slapfish, North Carolina
Not a bad idea. Is there a web page to submit these ideas to Apple Software? Phil Schiller?

----------

Find My Friends is too creepy for me. I don't want to find my friends and I don't want them to find me. If we're meeting up, we'll agree a location.

This would be a very useful tool for controlling wives and girlfriends. It will empower them to know your every move, know exactly where you are at any given moment. :D
 

Nevaborn

macrumors 65816
Aug 30, 2013
1,086
327
Well the app hasnt been killed off and it hasnt been updated so come 7.1 they may already e working on rightful intergration into the OS and its maps.

This is not only needed for FMF but also maps to help give it more features to differentiate it from Google and draw users back.

The share button talk from earlier is good for sharing a static lovation but is no replacment for a dynamic moving location.
 
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