How to Use Snapchat Maps

You can share your location with your friends on Snapchat by applying location filters to your snaps, but that's not all you can do. Snapchat's Snap Map offers a whole new way to share your location.

Snapchat's Snap Map is an interactive map you can use to share your location with friends. You can also see friends on the map when they share their location with you. If your friends have integrated their Bitmoji account with Snapchat, they'll be displayed as their Bitmoji characters on the map.

The Snap Map also has a community-based "Our Story" feature, which allows you to add your own snaps from a location to a story collection for that specific location. So when anyone goes to view that story collection from the Snap Map, they'll see all the snaps from every user who contributed to Our Story for that location.

There are three ways to get the Snap Map on the Snapchat app for iOS and Android, and they're all fairly simple.

• Pinch your fingers to zoom out on the Camera, Friends, or Discover screen: Place your index finger and thumb together on any of the three main screens from the outer area of the screen and slowly drag them together, as if you were zooming out on something on the screen. The map will then appear over the screen.
• Tap the magnifying glass at the top of any screen to access the Search screen: A small version of the Snap Map will appear beneath the search function on the search screen. Tap it to view it in full screen.
• Tap a Map Story on the Discover screen: Stories from the Snap Map may be featured here for you to check out. Tap any Map Story to view it.

Note: If this is your first time opening the Snap Map, you may be asked to configure your Snap Map settings. You'll be able to choose whether you want only you, your friends, or specific friends to see your location.

If you ever want to change your location settings at a later time:

1. Tap your profile icon in the top left corner,
2. Tap the gear icon in the top right to access your settings
3. Scroll down to the Who Can section and tap See My Location.

Now that you know how to access the Snap Map, you can start using it. Here are all the different ways you can take advantage of it.

• See Your Friends' Locations: Friends who've chosen to share their location with you will appear on the Snap Map. Tap on a friend to instantly start a chat with them or tap and hold to go to their profile.
• Search for a Friend's Location: Wondering where in the world a friend might be? Tap Search at the top of the screen to look for a specific friend on the map.
• Use the Heat Map to See Snaps Shared from Others: You can use your finger to drag the map around and look for the splashes of color on the map, which shows where people are snapping from. Blue means there are just a few snaps, while red means there are lots of snaps. Tap a colored area to view the snaps shared from there.
• View Stories for Hot Spots: Scouting out the colored portions of the map will reveal story collections created for extremely popular locations and events. Tap a very popular part of the map first to reveal the circular story collection, then tap the story collection to view the stories added to it.
• Add Your Own Snaps to Our Story: If you're snapping from a location with its own story collection, you can select Our Story from the Send To tab after taking a snap. You can also tap +Custom at the top of the Send To tab to create your own Geo Story, which allows you to share it with people nearby.

Snapchat's Snap Map can also be accessed from a web browser. Similar to how you'd use your finger to drag the map around on the mobile app, you can use your cursor to select and drag the map around to other locations. You can also use your mouse or trackpad to zoom in and out.

Select a colored portion or any circular story collection that appears to view snaps. A window will pop up over the map and will automatically play all the snaps shared by people in that specific location.

If you've decided that you'd rather not share your location on the Snap Map, you can turn off your location sharing setting. To do this, access the Snap Map by pinching your fingers on the screen and dragging them inward, then tap the gear icon with the ghost on it in the upper right corner.

On the following Settings tab, tap the Ghost Mode button to turn it on. When Ghost Mode is enabled, nobody will be able to see your location—not even your friends.