Snapchat encourages you to share every moment of your life. The expiry date on virtually everything is one of the biggest motivators that get people to interact with the app. As the app has grown, it’s come up with new ways to share life events and to find interesting stories around you. One such method was the introduction of maps. Snapchat users can find other Snapchat user and view their stories on a map. This was a bit of a security concern so users had the option to enable ghost mode in Snapchat and stay off the map. In a recent update, you can now temporarily switch to Ghost mode in Snapchat. Once the time expires, you’re visible on the map again.
This new feature will not change your current visibility status. If you’re visible on the map, it’s going to stay that way. If you’re in ghost mode, you will not be pushed out after a period of time. It’s permanent unless you decide to change it. This new feature requires you update to the latest version of Snapchat. It’s available worldwide, give or take 24 hours.
Open Snapchat and pinch inward on the Stories screen or on the main camera view finder screen. In the screenshot below, you can see I already have Ghost Mode enabled. Even if you don’t have Ghost mode enabled, just tap the cog wheel button at the top right.
Turn on Ghost Mode and it will ask you how long you want to enable it. If you already have Ghost Mode enabled, turn it off, and then on again. When you turn it on, Snapchat will ask you how long you want to keep Ghost mode on.
If you want to keep it on indefinitely, select the ‘Until turned off’ option. The other two options let you temporarily switch to Ghost mode in Snapchat for 3 or 24 hours.
The feature doesn’t let you set a specific time for when ghost mode should turn off. The expiry options are limited as well. You might just be better off keeping Ghost mode on all the time and turning it off only when the occasion calls for it. Ghost mode doesn’t disable location based filters in Snapchat. It doesn’t even revoke location access to the app. It simply keeps other Snapchat users around you from finding you or seeing stories you might have posted in a particular location. You can still create geo-fenced stories in Snapchat even with Ghost mode enabled.
