With Google ’s official Voice app create an appearance in the App Store after a long year of advisement , it was only a matter of prison term before another controversial Google diligence — an iOS client for its location - based Latitude social web — arrive as well .
Like other location - based societal connection , such as Loopt , Google Latitudeallows you to see your friends ’ locations on a mapping as well as divvy up your current location . you could also view a inclination of your friend with their current locations , how far they are from you , and how long ago they last update their emplacement . Latitude let you invite friends via e - post address or by searching your existing iOS or Google Contacts for other Latitude user .
With iOS 4 , Latitude can take vantage of background processing to keep your locating continuously update even when your phone is locked or you ’re using a different app ( Latitude also supply a switch for disable this backdrop functionality ) . And because privacy is obviously a big concern for location data , you could choose instead to manually ready or even veil your location .
ab initio announced in February 2009 , Latitude predict an iOS client for the service would be “ coming soon , ” but after disagreement with Apple on how best to go with the app , Google finally let go of a vane customer for the iPhone in July 2009 . And , while pretty estimable for a World Wide Web app , the lack of central features such as background location processing probably put limitations on the service ’s adoption among many iOS user . Whether the appearance of a in effect - late - than - never native client will goad newfound interest in the service , however , persist to be seen .
