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Apple adds Find My Friends app to iCloud on the web

Following a slew of updates for iOS, OS X, tvOS and watchOS, Apple has also given its web portal iCloud.com some love too. Last week, Apple took iWork for iCloud out of beta. Today, Apple has added the Find My Friends web app to the site.

Mirroring the app for iOS, the web app shows a map of friends who have opted in to sharing your location with them; pins for each person are displayed on an Apple Maps map.

Apple added Find My Friends as a default app on iOS 9 and are clearly trying to promote its usage. It is also available as a Today view widget on OS X El Capitan.   With iOS 8 and previous, Find My Friends was an optional download from the App Store … now it’s part of the OS itself and cannot be deleted.

Interesting, the Find My Friends web-app did not appear on beta.icloud.com at all. Try it out now on iCloud.com.

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Comments

  1. Now they just need to add iMessage!!!!

    • Yes yes yes!! This would be helpful. Especially if we could upload our conversation threads to the cloud for storage, mine are really starting to take up a lot of space on my iPhone but I don’t really want to delete them

  2. Henry - 8 years ago

    iCloud Pages, Numbers & Keynote are out of Beta now :)

    • sewollef - 8 years ago

      Yes they are… shame that Keynote (on iCloud) is utterly worthless. Truly an embarrassment in my book. If someone can point me to the ‘build in/build out’ controls for individual slides, timing controls, and the in depth image controls, and the audio controls that the desktop version has, then I’ll be happy with this release.

      To share a presentation through this version with any of my clients and I’d be fired. Awful, awful piece of ‘software’.

  3. Dave Howarth - 8 years ago

    My wife and I (along with several friends) have been using find my friends since it was first launched. I use it several times a day and find it super useful, but anytime I try to explain it to anyone new they always find it super creepy. it’s really tricky to sell the value of the app in just the right way.

    • bpmajesty - 8 years ago

      Ditto. It’s totally one of those things you have to do for it to make sense. I use it for my friends and family.

      • myke2241 - 8 years ago

        please explain it to me aside from kid related helicoptering. personally i think if you need to know where i am just call and ask.

      • bpmajesty - 8 years ago

        @myke2241 my best recommendation is to take in everything that everyone on this post has said about it (including me). Cant explain it. Saves the time of calling/texting to ask. Works great for family, close friends, and loved ones. If you have someone that you trust that much, just… try it and see. IF you don’t need it. It’s okay to delete it. : )

    • mrrvdio - 8 years ago

      Best way I describe it is its a way to keep in touch with friends during special events and trips. To know when we are all going to arrive or fine each other in a crowd.

      For parents it allows you to keep track of their kids without have to text them.

  4. rafagon726 - 8 years ago

    Shouldn’t the sentence from the second paragraph read “a map of friends who have opted to sharing *THEIR* location with *YOU*”?

  5. taoprophet420 - 8 years ago

    Wish was still optional download or have an option to hide it from the home screen liked iCloud Drive.

  6. Alex Wolfram - 8 years ago

    Not sure why, but I’ve been using it in El Capitan since beta release. I even told 9To5 it was an added feature months ago.

  7. This is bigger news than it first appears… the first time Apple Maps is available on the web. Guessing Apple’s using it as a way to test it out with much lower traffic before they push apple.maps.com live.

  8. prius3 - 8 years ago

    Do you really have so many friends willing to share with you their location at all times?
    Other than my elderly parents, I have no friends. It is not a matter of hiding something, but simply too much an intrusion in private life. You feel like as if you can be observed on your every move, anytime.
    Any comments? I am interested to know how and in which way you use Find My Friends.

    • Best way to think about this app is “Find Family”: would guess 99% of the time they’re the only ones who’ll share their location (although even that’s a stretch for many family members). Life360 is doing well focused on this use case but Apple’s decision to make Find Friends a default app in iOS9 may hurt them.

  9. Eric Vaandering - 8 years ago

    I used to use it regularly when I could attach it to a limited time event. I have a week conference I go to several times a year and it was great to set up a group to follow for that week. Since then, they’ve neutered FMF and I don’t use it.

Author

Avatar for Benjamin Mayo Benjamin Mayo

Benjamin develops iOS apps professionally and covers Apple news and rumors for 9to5Mac. Listen to Benjamin, every week, on the Happy Hour podcast. Check out his personal blog. Message Benjamin over email or Twitter.