Snapchat has announced an expansion of its Home Safe alerts, with users now able to activate automated arrival notifications for any location that they’re traveling to, in order to provide more reassurance to their close friends in the app.
Originally launched in July last year, Snapchat’s Home Safe alerts enable users to switch on automated notifications that inform their Snapchat friends that they’ve arrived home safely.
And now, users will also be able to add other locations and arrivals, providing more assurance via the app.
As explained by Snap: “Snapchatters can set one-time or recurring alerts for places beyond their home, offering a simple, automatic way to share when they’ve arrived where they are going. Arrival Notifications now work for everyday moments - like letting someone know you’re back for the night while traveling, or automatically sharing when you arrive at a weekly class, practice, or meeting - without needing to remember to send a message.”
So rather than relying on memory, the system will send a note of reassurance to a user’s chosen Snapchat connections automatically, letting them know that the user has reached their destination, wherever that may be.
It’s a good addition, and Snap says that its Home Safe alerts have already proven popular, with a million users activating Home Safe notifications in the past six months.
And it could be particularly beneficial for parents, providing updates on their child’s arrival, at wherever they’re going, through automated means, rather than relying on teens to remember to send a message.
Snapchat says that alerts can only be sent to friends that a user chooses to share their location with, and location sharing on Snap Map is off by default. “No one can see your location or receive an alert unless you choose to share it. If you’ve selected a one-time alert, it will expire once it’s sent or after 24 hours.”
It seems like a positive expansion of a handy function, which could see it get more usage.
