Google Latitude hits the App Store (update: gone)

Update: Looks like Google may have thrown the app up a bit early – It’s now gone from “all the world’s” App Stores.

After being an iOS web app for sometime now, Google has finally released a native Google Latitude client to the App Store and it’s free. Google Latitude is essentially a Google Map that has points with all your friend’s locations – seeing they like Google and being stalked – and works in the background.

With Google Latitude, see where your friends are right now. Latitude lets you stay in touch with your friends and family by making it easy to share where you are and see each other on a map.

With Latitude, you can:
* See your friends on a map – find out who’s nearby and meet up.
* Share your location continuously with whomever you choose – help friends and family stay in touch with you, even when you can’t take out your phone.
* Control your privacy – share only city-level location, hide your location, or turn off background updating at any time.

Latitude lets you share your location in the background, even when the app is closed or your device screen is locked. Background updating requires an iPhone 3GS or iPhone 4 with iOS 4 or above.

You can also enjoy Latitude from your computer at google.com/latitude to see where your friends are or turn on optional apps such as Google Location History for a personal history dashboard.

Google also promises some nice privacy features in the app but we’ll have to see how well they actually perform. It’s free so you might want to give it a try and did we mention it’s only out in Asia/Australia right now? (via Tech Crunch)