Snooping on your Snapchat friends becomes easier with ‘Explore’ for Snap Map

Explore on Snap Map will show updates from your friends.

Snapchat has a new ‘Explore’ option on Snap Map. (Shutterstock)

Snap Inc announced a new update for its photo-sharing app Snapchat. Snap Map now has a new feature called "Explore" that will allow users to find events and see friends' updates on Snap Map. Explore on Snap Map will be gradually rolled out to users globally in the coming weeks.

Explore has the same functionality as Snap Map in general does with visibility. If you have your location turned off then your Snapchat friends won't be able to see your Snap Map. Same way you will not be able to use Explore on Snap Map.

If you wish to turn on your location for Snap Map you can so by going to Settings > See My Location. Here, you can either set your location visible for all your friends on Snapchat or customise it for select users. If you wish to turn your location off you can simply toggle on "Ghost Mode". Note that if you turn off your location you won't be able to see your friends' locations.

Swipe right to see updates of your friends on Snap Map. (Snapchat)

Swipe right to see updates of your friends on Snap Map. (Snapchat)

How to use Explore on Snap Map

Like all features on Snapchat, using Snap Map is also tricky. There's no icon or tool on the app for Snap Map.

Open the camera app on Snapchat and turn it to the rear angle. Then pinch to zoom out on the screen and viola, Snap Map will appear.

Tap on 'News Updates' on the bottom of the screen for the Explore option. You can then swipe right to see different updates from your friends.

Under Explore you will get to see updates of your friends like when they're flying somplace new, visiting a landmark, or attending a big festival. You can also tap on your friends' Bitmoji to start a conversation. In addition to updates on your friends, Explore will also show breaking news, events and trends on Snap Map.

Snap Inc introduced Snap Map in June last year. As the name suggests, you can see your location and your friends' who are nearby. Tapping on the 'Actionmoji' of your friend on Snap Map will show an update to their last use of Snapchat. Snap Map updates the location of a user only when they open the app.

With inputs from IANS.