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Facebook adds Safety Check feature to iOS app to reassure family & friends during disasters

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Facebook has added a nifty new feature that hopefully you won’t need to use too often: notifications of nearby disasters, and a one-touch means of letting family and friends know that you’re ok … 

If the Facebook app detects that you’re in the general area of a disaster like an earthquake, the Safety Check feature provides an alert through the Notification Center and offers a choice of two buttons: one saying that you’re safe, the other saying you’re not in the affected area. Your friends then see a reassuring message in their newsfeeds.

If you’re with friends or family at the time, you can also mark them safe on their behalf.

Facebook updated its iOS app just yesterday to take full advantage of the larger screen sizes of the iPhone 6 and 6 Plus. The separate Facebook Messenger app was updated for the same reason last month. It also appears that Facebook plans to allow person-to-person payments through the app.

Both Facebook and Facebook Messenger are free downloads from iTunes.

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Comments

  1. Raudy De Leon - 10 years ago

    oh thats a nice feature, until the electricity goes off, the power plants get flooded and the cellphone towers stop working like they did a few years ago here in the north east with hurricaine sandy.

    • Nate Hirt - 10 years ago

      That happens often…..By similar logic, everything else is nice unless power goes out and the generators don’t work and the nine realms align and the convergence occurs.

  2. EdoVision (@EdoVision) - 10 years ago

    wouldn’t it be useful to add an “I am not ok” button which alerts FB friends?

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Avatar for Ben Lovejoy Ben Lovejoy

Ben Lovejoy is a British technology writer and EU Editor for 9to5Mac. He’s known for his op-eds and diary pieces, exploring his experience of Apple products over time, for a more rounded review. He also writes fiction, with two technothriller novels, a couple of SF shorts and a rom-com!


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