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Find your friends with this app, even if your friends don't have it!

SponTalk

Newbie
Jun 18, 2011
19
0
Hi,
My new app, Friends-Locator, can help you find your friends and show you where they are on a map.
it can do that even if your friends don't have the app installed.

The full version (0.99$) also displays an arrow pointing to your friend's location (using your device's magnetometer) and the distance between you two.

Here is the link to both versions:

The free version:
http://market.android.com/details?id=com.codewithcontent.spontalk.friendslocator_free

The full version:
http://market.android.com/details?id=com.codewithcontent.spontalk.friendslocator

Enjoy and please rate ;)
 
Does this app assure that the "friends" have consented to being tracked in this way?

"The application sends a REGULAR SMS that contains a unique link to the contact that you want to locate.
When your contact opens the link (NO DOWNLOADS are involved), a connection is made between your Friends-Locator app and your contact's device. your Friends-Locator then "asks" your contact's device for its location."

- I guess that means it's consented.
 
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"The application sends a REGULAR SMS that contains a unique link to the contact that you want to locate.
When your contact opens the link (NO DOWNLOADS are involved), a connection is made between your Friends-Locator app and your contact's device. your Friends-Locator then "asks" your contact's device for its location."

- I guess that means it's consented.
I saw that, but ordinarily I don't think one would regard the act of opening an SMS as consent to be tracked by the sender. Edited to add: Oh, OK, I misread it; evidently there's a link in the message that must also be opened. Fair enough.
 
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Hi,
My new app, Friends-Locator, can help you find your friends and show you where they are on a map.
it can do that even if your friends don't have the app installed.

The full version (0.99$) also displays an arrow pointing to your friend's location (using your device's magnetometer) and the distance between you two.

Here is the link to both versions:

The free version:
http://market.android.com/details?id=com.codewithcontent.spontalk.friendslocator_free

The full version:
http://market.android.com/details?id=com.codewithcontent.spontalk.friendslocator

Enjoy and please rate ;)

A nice complementary app to Glympse.
 
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Hi,
Yes, your friend will need to open a link from a SMS sent by your Friends-Locator app.
HOWEVER, it is not a download link but a link to a simple web page which simply "asks" the phone for its location.

The amount of data which your friend's phone will have to use is less then 100kb, and probably less than 50kb (that's 0.05mb).

Shai K
 
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Not quite Rovers.
If you are looking for your friends in the park, a SMS or a phone call will not be so useful. what will they say ?, "we are next to the tree ?". even on the street, you may get an address, what will you do with it? open an the map app. so if you are opening an app, open Friends-Locator in the first place. same goes for the GPS status app.

about Glympse:
Ok, so I want to know where are you. I will send you an SMS and you will have to open Glympse, set the timer and send me your location. many actions for you to take on the go.

Now lets compare with friends-locator:
I am launching the app (easier than sending you a SMS), and all you have to do is to click on the link if you want to share your location that's it (much easier and faster than launching Glympse on the go).

so Friends-Locator is better for both sides.
 
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The application generates and sends the SMS, the user types nothing,
and the other side just need to click on the link and types nothing as well.

So the application is the easier to use, and the fastest methods for both sides.

Moreover, let's assume that you are sending a text message such as 'where are you?' and receives an address. so?, what does it tell you?, are you familiar with all the addresses and their location? there is a good chance that you will need to search the address in your map app, so why not using Friends-Locator in the first place which will open the map for you?

another situation is when meeting with your friends in places that have no addresses, such as parks and nature. how will your friends describe their location in those places?, "near the tree?".

And what about conferences and other networking places?, again no address, how will you meet your friend or business partner there?

Friends-Locator is the easiest and fastest method for finding your friends in all situations!

Shai K
 
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I will start by saying that in the situations that you have mentioned no navigation application will work well if at all.

Friends-Location will work in all scenarios that have data connection and location support (location support does not mean GPS on).

When the GPS is turned off or not available the application (depends on the device) will try using the wifi id or cell info to determine its location ( one of them must exist when data connection is available).

No smartphone is not an issue (!) as Friends-Locator support working with non-smartphones!

Friends-Locator is perfect for many realistic situations: Finding your friends in the park, finding colleagues in a conference or to checking where your kids are.

Give it a try and then tell us all what do you think!

Shai K
 
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Could have used this today when we split up to go separate ways and reconvened but at the wrong time. Well I guess I have to decide if a text is easier than a call.... hmm

That's exactly a situation for using Glympse. Just send each other a Glympse when you split up and each knows where the other(s) is/are at all times on a live, dynamic map in their browser for a user set amount of time (max 4 hours). After which Glympse expires or can manually be extended (by tapping). This max setting ensures you cannot automatically be tracked beyond that time span. Unless you willfully send a new Glympse, of course.

https://market.android.com/details?...yLDEsImNvbS5nbHltcHNlLmFuZHJvaWQuZ2x5bXBzZSJd
 
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jancat, yes you could. but its never too late.
by the way, you don't need to send a text message, the app does it for you.
All you have to do is to open the app, choose the contact you want to locate - and that's it.
When the location of your friend is available you will get a map with both locations marked on it (your location and your friend's).

You will also have an arrow pointing on your friend's location (premium version) telling you the direction and the distance between you too (Glympse does not have that feature as far as I know).

Rovers, Glympse is a nice app, but it is complicated ( timers ,etc) and can be risky. you can share your location without knowing (even if its for a limited period of time). it is also sharing your location without knowing if the other side wants to know where you are and consumes your battery while doing it - even if no one is using your location info.

Friends-Locator is much better because it retrieves you the information you need when you need it. Friends-Locator is like asking "where are you?" when you want to know where your friend is (otherwise you wouldn't use it) while Glympst is like shouting:"Here I am !" when you don't really know if the other side wants to know. you can find your self sharing your location with no one and consuming your device's battery for nothing.

In Friends-Locator, The other side shares his/her location only when needed and only for the period of time that it is needed.

Friends-Locator is the most easy way of knowing where your friends are, and the next version will include many surprises! so stay tuned ;)

Shai K
 
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Do you know why car signaling automatically stop when the wheel is centered?
Because the driver, who turned it on 2 seconds ago may forget turning it off when it is not needed anymore.

Friends-Locator does the same. it lets you find your friend on one side and transmits your friend's location on the other only when needed, and it lets you focus on your other tasks while doing it.

but you can blame the user if it makes you fell good ;)
 
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