Instagram's new Map feature lets you share your location with friends in real-time, but the addition has prompted concerns over privacy and safety.
Added on Wednesday for U.S. users in the Instagram app, the Snap Maps-like tool allows you to see the friends' tagged locations on a Map, accessible through the Messages tab. Posts tied to specific locations by friends or creators you follow will appear, if they have opted in for location sharing (which is, importantly, off by default).
There's always another side to location sharing tools beyond the fun and practicality of it all. Location sharing can give third-party advertisers a solid picture of the places you visit and how often. But location sharing can also be co-opted by creeps and even used in cases of domestic digital abuse.
Instagram has taken measures to curb this. As Mashable's Digital Culture Editor Crystal Bell writes, "While location sharing has become a common tool for keeping track of loved ones, planning in-person events, or seeing what your ex is up to (which we don't recommend), Instagram's new feature offers robust controls and flexible privacy settings."
But how does all this work? Let's break it all down.
How does location sharing work on Instagram?
Long before the Maps feature rolled out, Instagram added location sharing in Nov. 2024, specifically for DMs.
According to Meta, location sharing is off by default on Instagram unless you turn it on yourself — which might come as a relief to many. The company stipulates that if you do switch location sharing on "your location is updated whenever you open the app or return to the app if it’s been running in the background."
In an easy process we've detailed below, you can customise who you want to share your location with, whether friends or followers you follow back, Close Friends, selected friends, or no one. You can only share your location with accounts that you follow, and you can also single out specific people not to share your location with.
If you share your location, according to Instagram, it will update every time you open the app and will disappear after 24 hours if you haven't opened it.
How does location sharing work with Instagram Maps?
There's been some confusion over how Maps works with the rollout, especially whether people are sharing their live location or not — and it's been addressed by Instagram head Adam Mosseri on Threads.
"Best we can tell most of what's happening is people are tagging stories and posts with location, and then when they — or their followers — see those stories and posts on the map they assume the author is sharing their live location, which is not the case. We can, and will, make it easier to understand exactly what's happening," he said in a post on Friday.
"So, we need to do a better job making sure (1) people understand when they tag a location that shares not just the name, but the actual location, and (2) when you see a location tagged story or post on the map that is not the person's live location. We're hoping to get some improvements out early next week."
So, if you've switched your location sharing on, whoever you have given access can view it on Maps through posts you've tagged, or you can directly share your live location within chats.
On the Map, you can also see the posts of others who have location sharing on (you can swipe up to see a list of everyone who is sharing their location with you). You can tap on a person's icon on the Map to DM them.
Even if you have location sharing off, you can still look at the Map and see posts from anyone who has their location shared with you.
In the Map, there are various shapes that will indicate your settings, according to Instagram:
A blue arrow: You're sharing your location with your selected audience.
A red dot: You're not sharing your location.
An orange triangle: You need to enable location permissions on your device to share your location.
Of course, you can turn off location sharing at any time if you've turned it on. Here's how.
How to turn off location sharing on Instagram
- 2 min
- Instagram account
Step 1: Open the Instagram app.
The Maps feature is not available on desktop yet.
Step 2: Tap the arrow icon in the top right to open Messages.
Step 3: Tap the Map feature at the top of your inbox.
Step 4: Tap the cog icon in the top right to open Settings.
Step 5: Choose your location sharing preferences.
Here, you can customise who you want to share your location with, whether friends or followers you follow back, Close Friends, selected friends, or no one. You can only share your location with accounts that you follow, and you can also single out specific people not to share your location with.
Step 6: Tap "Update."
As for teens on Instagram, Meta says parents can decide whether their child has access to location sharing and can see who they're sharing it with. Parents will also get a notification if their teen starts sharing their location. "If you're a parent with supervision set up for your teen, you have control over their location sharing experience on the map," the company wrote.
UPDATE: Aug. 8, 2025, 3:16 p.m. UTC Added statement from Instagram head Adam Mossieri.