Is the “Nearby Friends” option not showing or not working on Facebook?
The option allows you to share your location with each other.
By turning on “Nearby Friends”, “Location History” will also be turned on.
If you don’t turn on “Location History”, “Nearby Friends” will not work.
This feature used to be available on iOS and Android devices.
However, it seems to have gone missing/disappeared from the Facebook app.
In this article, you’ll learn why “Nearby Friends” is not showing or not working on Facebook and how to get it back.
- Why can’t I see nearby friends on Facebook?
- How to fix “Nearby Friends” not showing on Facebook
- Did Facebook get rid of nearby friends?
- How do I see nearby friends on Facebook?
Why can’t I see nearby friends on Facebook?
You can’t see nearby friends on Facebook because Facebook removed that feature.
As of 1 June 2022, Facebook has removed “Nearby Friends”, “Weather Alerts”, “Location History”, and “Background Location”.
The feature was originally implemented so that you can easily get in touch with your friends.
For the feature to work, both you and your friend need to turn on the feature.
This is similar to Snapchat’s “Snap Map” where you can see your friends’ locations.
In this day and age, privacy is getting more important.
In fact, the largest companies like Google and Apple are moving towards a privacy-centric web.
Facebook is no exception as they hope to be more clear about their data practices.
Michel Protti, the Chief Privacy Officer of Facebook mentioned that Meta aims to develop personalized experiences without undermining its users’ privacy.
Part of this initiative is the removal of the “Nearby Friends” option, which prevents your friends from knowing your location.
How to fix “Nearby Friends” not showing on Facebook
To fix “Nearby Friends” not showing on Facebook, you need to download an old version of the Facebook app.
This is because the new version of the app does not have the feature anymore.
Unfortunately, this only works if you’re using an Android device.
- Delete the Facebook app.
- Tap on this link: https://androidapksfree.com/facebook/com-facebook-katana/download/.
- Tap on “Download” followed by “Download anyway”.
- Open the file and tap on “Install”.
- Open Facebook and the “Nearby Friends” feature will be back.
If this is your first time installing an APK, you may get an error message.
To fix this, you need to allow “Install unknown apps” in your settings.
To do so, navigate to Settings > Install unknown apps > Allow from this source.
You may also receive a message saying that the file might be harmful.
Don’t worry as the site is completely safe.
Did Facebook get rid of nearby friends?
Yes, Facebook got rid of nearby friends as of 1 June 2022.
Information that you’ve provided that was used for “Nearby Friends”, “Weather Alerts”, “Location History”, and “Background Location” will not be collected after 31 May 2022.
However, you still can view and download your location history until 1 August 2022.
After that, your location history will be permanently deleted and you won’t be able to recover it.
You can download your information before 1 August 2022 if you want to know what Facebook has collected.
If you don’t use “Location History”, you don’t have to do anything and the information will be automatically deleted.
How do I see nearby friends on Facebook?
Before the removal of “Nearby Friends” on Facebook, you could enable or disable it at any time.
The feature will only work if you and your friend turned on the feature.
For example, if you didn’t turn on “Nearby Friends”, you won’t be able to see the location of your friends.
Similarly, if your friend didn’t turn on the feature but you did, they won’t be able to see your location.
- Go to your settings and turn on “Location services”.
- Open Facebook and tap on the menu icon.
- Select “Nearby Friends”.
- Tap on the three dots next to your name.
- Tap on “Settings”.
- Turn on “Nearby Friends”.
If you have the latest version of Facebook, you can no longer see the “Nearby Friends” option.
This is because Facebook removed it along with 3 other tracking features as of 1 June 2022.
Conclusion
In recent years, privacy and data protection have been the focus of many companies.
For iOS version 14.5 and above, apps are required to ask your permission to track your activity.
If you don’t allow them to track your activity, you won’t be served personalized ads.
Google has also pledged to remove third-party cookies on Chrome in 2023.
The Facebook team is not an exception as they frequently update their privacy policy.
They’ve also rolled out the Privacy Center to educate people about Meta’s outlook on privacy across their apps.
Facebook’s removal of the “Nearby Friends” feature is part of its goal to better protect users’ privacy.
Further reading
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