Facebook is developing an always-on app that tracks your location, so you can “find your friends”

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Facebook’s current tracking system allows you to check-in places ala Foursquare, and add locations to your posts. According to a report by Bloomberg, Facebook expand its tracking into a standalone app that can track your location in the background so you can find friends and your friends would be able to find you.

This is similar to Apple’s Find My Friends app, or Google’s Latitude. The Verge notes that this could open the possibilities to a much improved version of the old “find friends nearby” feature, as it would use always-on tracking data rather than check-ins to pinpoint friends, giving you more accurate results.

While this could potentially be useful, it’s probably safe to say that many users wouldn’t be very comfortable with an app that is always tracking and broadcasting your location. It could also prove to be a huge battery-killer. But if Facebook can provide the proper privacy options for tracking like permissions, or maybe even the option to use the less intrusive check-ins for your location, this could be another great addition to Facebook’s collection of mobile apps.

Facebook has declined to comment regarding the app, but the report says that a launch may come in mid-March. Stay tuned!

[via Bloomberg, The Verge]

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