Instagram might be leaking your location. Here’s how to check

Earlier this summer, Instagram launched a new feature called maps. The idea: you and other friends can share your location in real time, in what Meta calls for a “new light way to connect”.

(Having lived at the time of Foursquare and Yelp checks, I am cynical that companies that want people to share their locations for social purposes – it’s just a data treasure for monetization.)

Maps is an optional feature – You must choose to turn it on. You can also share with friends (defined as “subscribers you follow”), close friends, only selected friends or person.

But I almost turned on the sharing of the location via accident cards at launch, and it seems that I was not the only one. A friend recently mentioned without knowing that he had been activated. We both also have “friends” on Instagram that we don’t know very well.

Thus, in theory, this new feature seems more private. In practice, you can accidentally end up sharing your spell in real time with people you have never intended.

Here’s how to check:

1. Open the Instagram application.
2. Open your messages.
3. At the top of the screen, you will see an icon of the globe called Map.
4. If you do not share, you should see a small red icon and the state message Does not share. You do not see these indicators? As long as the location for the application is disabled, you should always be locked.

I was saved from accidental sharing by the lack of authorizations to share Instagram location – I had the disabled for the application previously. It slowed me down and made me do what the application really asked for. I initially supposed that Instagram had asked with whom I would be comfortable sharing my location information for messages.

Meta and a lack of intimacy are not surprising, but it is a good reminder to periodically check your parameters in services and applications. You never know what new thing could betray your privacy.