Snapchat can automatically let a trusted friend know you got home safe

Snapchat can now let your friends know if you’re back home from an outing safe and sound without you having to send a message. The app has launched a new feature called Home Safe, which sends one-time alerts to contacts of your choice. You can only send these alerts to people you already share your location with, and since that off by default, you’d have to activate it on Snap Maps for all your friends or for specific ones. Your friends will only get the notification once, and it will shut off afterward.

Home Safe sounds especially useful if you and your friends typically check in on each other after meeting up, if you want to let your parents know you’d gotten back home after going out or if you’re a woman who’s asked a friend to make sure you got back safe after a first date. To switch the feature on, tap your Bitmoji on the Snap Map and then “My Home” to set your home location. After that, whenever you want to send someone a notification, just open your conversation with then, tap on the Map icon and then tap the “Home Safe” button.

The app has had location sharing for a while now, but it has built up the safety feature over the years. It added live location sharing that allows you to share your exact whereabouts to friends in 2022. And last year, it introduced new location tracking abilities to its Family Center, allowing parents to get notifications if their child leaves school or home.

Jim Lanzone, the CEO of Engadget’s parent company Yahoo, joined the board of directors at Snap on September 12, 2024. No one outside of Engadget’s editorial team has any say in our coverage of the company.