Featured Image Credit: Alamy/Snapchat
Topics: Snapchat, Technology
Joe Harker
Snapchat has gone and released a new premium service where you get more stuff if you pay for the app, but some users have slammed certain features as 'dangerous'.
For the cost of $3.99 a month you get access to 'exclusive, experimental, and pre-release features', meaning you get some stuff nobody else has and a few features before anyone else gets them.
It lets you do things like pick who your best friend is on the app, which definitely won't lead to arguments, and see how many of your friends have been rewatching your stories.
Plus, you get a special badge which lets everyone know you're a fully paid up member of Snapchat+, though even paying customers aren't allowed to skip those pesky ads.
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However, not every part of the package has been welcomed as some users are slamming Snapchat for introducing a 'dangerous' feature on its app.
The controversial new feature added to the app is called 'Ghost Trails', and it lets users see where their friends have been in the last 24 hours.
If your friend has their location on the app visible then Snapchat+ users can see where they've been in the last day, which some people think is a very bad idea.
It shows you on the Snapchat map what locations a friend has been in as well as the route they took to get around during the day.
One person suggested the Ghost Trails feature was 'basically encouraging stalking', while a second user called on Snapchat to remove the feature 'instantly'.
Someone else said the update left them 'pretty much done with this app', while another person felt it was 'creepy and very unsafe'.
Sadly, location tracking technology is rife with misuse as Apple can attest to with the way its AirTag devices have been used to track people's movements without their consent.
Anyone really worried about their safety should switch off their location so that not even their friends know where they are.
Snapchat have released a statement on the backlash against potential misuse of the Ghost Trails feature.
They said: "Location sharing on Snap Map is set to 'off' by default.
"To share location on the Snap Map, Snapchatters must actively change their settings - and then it will only be visible to friends on the app."
"Ghost Trails doesn’t share any new location data that Snapchatters don’t choose to share with friends on their Snap Map."
Snapchat+ has been rolled out in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, France, Germany, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.