Arguably, social media and the internet can be a scary place if you're not overly careful about what you post and share with members of the public. TikToker Katie Braden has reaffirmed this theory after making a discovery on her iPhone and warning her followers about a setting for social media, which allows others to track your "precise location".
In a plea to maintain your safety online, Katie has warned others about a location setting - and how you can easily turn it off. Whilst many people like to tag their location on platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, the new setting may give fellow social media users a little too much information.
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In the video on TikTok - which has already surpassed 210,000 views to date - Katie shared a warning for fellow social media users.
"Did you know that people can find your exact location?" She asked viewers. "And if you don't like the sound of that - and neither do I - this is how you turn it off.
"First you need to go on your phone settings - not your Instagram settings - your actual phone settings."
All you need to do to ensure that your location is turned off is by clicking on your phone settings - Instagram - and then onto privacy.
You should then make sure that the "precise location" box is switched off - and you're good to go!
Whilst Katie described in her video that the setting only affects Instagram, others have said differently in the comment section.
The "precise location" setting - which has been dubbed "scary" by viewers - doesn't only impact Instagram, but most likely your other favourite apps too.
One user warned: "If you use Facebook, do the same for Facebook as well."
"Or any other apps like Snapchat, Facebook messenger, TikTok, WhatsApp," a second agreed.
A concerned user penned: "Mine was on - Jesus how are people doing it tho I thought of you tagged where you are then that’s how people seen …. Scary."
"Thanks for this! I had no idea," another added.
Another joked: "Here was me wondering how the adverts of restaurants I get are all little businesses down the road. I always thought it was a coincidence."
The Head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri has since shared a statement about the location settings on Twitter - confirming it's not a new Instagram feature, it's a setting on your phone.
He wrote: "For clarity. Location Services is a device setting on your phone, not a new feature from Instagram, and it powers things like location tags. We don’t share your location with other people."
The Instagram Comms team also posted a series of tweets about it, adding: "We've seen a meme going around about how Instagram uses 'precise location'.
"To be clear, we don’t share your location with others. Similar to other social media companies, we use precise location for things like location tags and maps features.
"People can manage Location Services via their device settings, and tag locations on their posts if they want to share that information."
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