Apple debuted Find My Friends last fall during their iPhone 4S event. Similar to Google’s Latitude service, Find My Friends uses GPS and Wi-Fi triangulation to track the locations of its members.
While the platform certainly has potential, it’s failed to garner much user-traction thus far. But it appears that Apple is looking to change that in iOS 6, with a new geofencing notification system…
Macworld points to the interesting new feature, which can be found on Apple’s iOS 6 website:
“And with iOS 6, you can get location-based alerts — like when your kids leave school or arrive home. Find My Friends can also notify others about your location, so you can stay connected or keep track of the ones you love.”
This is actually pretty cool. Imagine you’re a working parent with young children who walk home from school or a local bus stop every day. Wouldn’t it be nice to get a push notification, assuring you they’re home safe and sound?
Or what about this: say you have a daughter who is making a long drive back to college after a recent visit. Wouldn’t it be nice to get an alert on your phone or tablet letting you know she made it home ok?
Honestly, I’d be extremely surprised if Apple didn’t market this feature in one way or another when it becomes available this fall — it’s that good. Who else is doing this right now on this level of scale and simplicity?