( CNN ) -- Your phone always knows where you are . And now , if you want , your Facebook friends will always know where you are , too . Facebook is introducing a mobile feature called Nearby Friends that taps into that steady stream of location information so friends can track each other in real time . The idea is to make it easy for people to meet up in real life , so they can have conversations in person instead of comment threads , temporarily replacing Likes and LOLs with eye contact and actual laughter . A live meet-up is also an excellent opportunity to grab a selfie with your pal and upload it to the Facebook owned Instagram . In a refreshing change , the new Nearby Friends feature is not turned on by default . Friends will not be able to see where you are unless you decide live-tracking is something you want in your life and visit Facebook 's settings to turn it on . Making a potentially invasive new feature opt-in suggests Facebook has perhaps learned from some of its past mistakes and privacy problems . You can choose to share your general location with all your Facebook friends , close friends or a customized list of people you feel most comfortable with . Further minimizing the potential stalking factor , your location is only shared with other people who are also using the feature and who have chosen to share their location with you . When turned on , Nearby Friends shows a list of approved Facebook friends who also use the feature and shows their approximate location . A push notification can tell you how many of your friends are nearby . Open the app to see a list of pals , the neighborhood or city where they are , how many miles away that is from your current location , and a time stamp of when they where there . There is an option to share your exact location with specific friends , which can be handy for coordinating large groups at concerts or finding someone in a crowded area . Your friends will see a little image of your face on a map for a set period of time . Nearby Friends will be available on Facebook 's iOS and Android apps , but will only work for select locations at first . Facebook , Instagram and many other apps already include features that let people `` check-in '' to locations , but those location features are different because you decide if and when to share each specific location . You might check into a Starbucks downtown , but never into your home or other spot you 'd rather keep private . Nearby Friends is continuously gathering details about where you are in the background instead of waiting for a manual check-in . This is not the first time an app has used location information to physically connect friends . Similar apps such as Highlight , which got a flurry of attention in 2012 , mapped out the locations of nearby strangers . Facebook also purchased a startup in 2012 called Glancee that also connected strangers . That technology evolved into this new , more private feature . If you turn on the Nearby Friends feature , Facebook starts collecting data on your exact location and keeps details on where you 've been in the past , not just places where you 've used its app to check in . It also collects location information even when the Facebook app is closed . But you can turn off this location history in the Facebook app 's settings . It 's possible to delete individual locations from a history , or clear the whole thing and start from scratch .
Facebook 's Nearby Friends feature shares your general location with your friends . The tracking tool is opt - in so people ' n't accidentally share their location by themselves . Nearby Friends also has an option for sharing a user 's exact location on a map .