Snapchat Adds Safe Arrival Notifications for Friends

Snapchat announced on Thursday that it is introducing “Home Safe,” a new feature that will allow users to notify their friends and family that they have returned home safely from an outing.

In order to make it simpler to notify your loved ones when you have safely returned home, Snapchat is introducing a new feature called Home Safe. Snapchat’s Home Safe feature expands on the app’s built-in location features by enabling you to automatically notify friends in chat conversations when you return home, saving you the trouble of remembering to send direct messages.

You must first press your Bitmoji on Snap Map and then select “My Home” in order to activate the feature. To let a buddy know when you’re coming home after going out, launch the conversation, press the Map symbol, and then select the Home Safe button.

As soon as you get home, your friend will automatically receive an alert in your chat conversation.

Although you may share real-time location data with others using various messaging apps like Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and Snapchat, the Home Safe alerts eliminate the need for your pals to continuously monitor your whereabouts. According to Snap, the alert only sounds once before automatically turning off. Snapchat users can proactively choose who they want to send the Home Safe alerts to because the alerts can only be sent to friends with whom they have already shared their location.

Snapchat notes that only friends and family with whom the user has already shared his or her location with, can receive alerts. Additionally, unless you choose to share your position, no one can see it or receive a Home Safe warning because Snap Map’s location sharing is off by default.

In a blog post, Snapchat stated, “Home Safe can give a close friend or family member peace of mind that you’ve made it home safely, whether you’re returning from a first date, a packed concert, or a weekend getaway.”

Snapchat revealed that Snap Map now has over 400 million monthly active users two months prior to the release of this new feature.

Users must tap on their Bitmoji and choose “My Home” to set their home location on Snap Map in order to use the feature. After setting the location, users can start the journey home by tapping on the Map symbol in their discussions and choosing the “Home Safe” button. When the app detects that the user has reached their home destination, alerts will be sent out in the form of a chat to the family or friends in which the user’s location was shared with.

When Snap Map first launched in 2017, it allowed users to view the whereabouts of their contacts and peruse public photos taken all over the world. The feature has changed over time and now provides methods for users to find activities and local hotspots.