Facebook, goodbye to some functions related to localization: what changes

By opening the Facebook on your smartphone you may have already received the notification with which the social network communicates that, starting from May 31, 2022, some functions that used localization data will be removed of devices.

In detail, the features concerned are “Friends nearby” and weather alerts: both exploited the user’s location. Furthermore, Facebook also makes it known that the location history and background location will not only no longer be collected from the date indicated, but also the related information stored up to now will soon be permanently deleted:

The information you have shared that has been used for these experiences, including your location history and background location, will no longer be collected after May 31, 2022, even if you have previously enabled them.

Anyone wishing to download their location history can do so by 1 August 2022: afterwards the data will be deleted and will no longer be recoverable. All this does not mean, of course, that the Facebook app does not continue to collect information relating to the location of users if they have granted the relative authorization.

To check this, simply go to the settings of your device, where you can revoke the permissions if you wish.

ANACHRONISTIC FUNCTIONS

Zuckerberg’s social network did not specify the reasons behind the removal of these functions. “Friends in the vicinity”, presented in 2014 and introduced in Europe in 2015, is probably now considered an anachronistic option, outdated by the times and far from the use and role that Facebook has assumed in recent years, far from centrality that it covered at the time, especially as regards the new generations.

And even the weather information is redundant: the company’s focus, at the moment, is the development of the metaverse, together with the push for the Reels, the short TikTok-style videos that have eclipsed audio projects such as podcasts and Soundbites, now abandoned.