Long-time Android and Facebook users know that the location settings for the app is pretty barebones and “all or nothing”. There is just one on and off switch for the Location Services which makes it simple enough to understand but also not granular enough to be specific. But now it looks like Facebook wants to make it more specific for Android users as they are introducing a new location control and checkup feature for the app so that users get more choices over what location information to share with them.
Android only has one on/off switch for Location Services so you can choose which apps you want to share your location with. So if you chose to turn it on for Facebook, it’s always on for the app, whether or not you’re actually using it. For example, if you enable the Nearby Friends feature on your social network, you give permission to access your location even if you’re using another app at the time. That’s why you get notifications that so and so friend is near you.
But with this new update to the Facebook app for Android, you get to choose to share or not to share your location when you’re not using the app itself. When you go to your Location Access setting in the Settings page, you’ll see a new Background Location section. You just need to toggle it on or off depending on how you want to share your location information.
If you’ve previously turned on your Location History setting, the Background Location is defaulted to on. But you can always toggle it off if you prefer not to give away your location when you’re not using the app. If your Location History is off, then the Background Location is automatically off as well unless you decide to turn it on.
Users who have their Location History on will get a notification on their Facebook app telling them about the new control. This seems to be a server-side update, so just wait until you get the notice before you take any action.
SOURCE: Facebook
