Anyone you exchange messages with via Facebook Messenger could know where you’ve been at any point. Chatted with your boss? He could use a newly discovered hack to figure out your sick days weren’t spent at home.
Facebook intern Aran Khanna found he could figure out where his friends were going daily with a bit of code, based solely on whether he had Facebook Messenger conversations with them. It even worked with people he wasn’t Facebook friends with if he had been in the same Facebook Messenger chat group.
He calls this code Marauders Map, and anyone can use it. Luckily, it’s fairly simple to hide your location from potential stalkers.
Screengrab: Rob LeFebvre/Cult of Mac
Khanna’s Marauders Map Chrome extension relies on an API key that Facebook uses to allow apps to access your location data.
To make sure no one can figure out where you are, launch the Settings app on your iPhone. Tap the Privacy button and then the Location Services button.
Once there, swipe down to the list of apps that have requested location data, and tap on Messenger. Select “Never” in the resulting options screen, and your private location won’t be shared with other Messenger users.
Of course, you could refuse to use Messenger altogether, but with so many friends and family on there these days, that’s not the most viable option.
Rob LeFebvre is an Anchorage, Alaska-based writer and editor who has contributed to various tech, gaming and iOS sites, including 148Apps, Creative Screenwriting, Shelf-Awareness, VentureBeat, and Paste Magazine. Feel free to find Rob on Twitter @roblef, and send him a cookie once in a while; he’ll really appreciate it.
2 responses to “How to hide your location from Facebook stalkers”
I only use the web version with Safari. If Safari has location services turned on, will this hack let people have access the same way as if I used the Messenger app?
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