Facebook has decided to remove the Nearby Friends and other location-based features by the end of this month. The social media platform announced the change a few days ago but failed to give reasons why. Facebook also claims that all information related to location-based features will be removed from its servers.
iOS and Android users have recently been getting popup notifications on their Facebook apps about the removal of Nearby Friends. The feature allowed people to share their current location with other Facebook friends.
Facebook also declared that Time Alerts, Location History, and Background Location will soon be removed.
These features will no longer be available in the app after May 31, 2022. Facebook reported:
Nearby Friends and Weather alerts will no longer be available after May 31, 2022. Information you shared that was used for these experiences, including Location History and Background Location, will stop being collected after May 31, 2022, even if you have previously enabled them.
Some of the location-based information such as location history will be available for download by August 1, 2022, after which it will be deleted.
The deletion of these features, however, does not mean that Facebook will stop collecting users’ location ‘for other experiences.’