Nearby Friends on Facebook: iPhone and Android app
The Facebook app used to allow you to keep track of your friends with a location-based feature called Nearby Friends. The feature has however been discontinued since May 31, 2022.
Note: The Nearby Friends feature has been discontinued since May 31, 2022. This article serves for informational purposes.
How to enable the Nearby Friends option
Nearby Friends is a Facebook feature that allows you to see who among your friends is nearby so you can meet each other easily. The option can be enabled or disabled for every person using the Facebook app depending on the privacy preferences of each user.
To enable the Nearby Friends option, you need to turn on your Location services by going to Settings, next Applications, then Facebook, and finally, Permission and Location and turn the location services on if you are using Android.
If you use an iOS device, go to Settings, click Privacy, choose Location Services, select Facebook, and turn the location services On by clicking on While Using the App.
Next, open the Facebook app and tap on three horizontal lines in the top right corner. Choose Nearby Friends.
You can choose who you’d like to share your location with. Tap on the Share location with tab and select whether it will be your Facebook friends, Specific friends that you can select, Friends except for some people you don’t want to know your exact location, or Only me if you decided not to use the option. Finally, accept the prompt to enable the location history and tap Turn On.
Finally, you will see your friends' location on a map and your Facebook friends, who enabled the option, will see yours.
Note: The Nearby Friends feature is only available on Android and iOS devices, but not on the web.
How to invite friends to join
Tap on Invite Friends displayed at the bottom of your screen to invite other people to try out this feature.
How to disable Nearby Friends for all friends
To disable the feature, simply tap on the gear icon and select Turn Off Nearby Friends.
Don’t forget to turn off location services on Facebook if you don’t want to continue using Nearby Friends feature.