In Order To Protect Ukrainian Civilians, Snapchat Has Stopped The Heatmap Feature On Its App

Snapchat has stopped its Heatmap feature in its app to protect Ukrainian civilians from becoming targets for Russian attacks. (Photo: Pixabay)

JAKARTA - Snapchat has temporarily disabled the "heatmap" feature in its app. The heatmap feature is used to show where Snaps were taken. This feature is very useful for those who want to know the places to visit in an area.

"As a security precaution, we have temporarily disabled the heatmap of public Snaps in Ukraine. We will continue to offer curated stories consisting of Snaps sent in Ukraine," Snapchat wrote in a statement on its official Twitter, Saturday, March 5.

Embed: https://twitter.com/snapchatsupport/status/1499897525167276035?t=XWCVMzPJYagdcOYF0BiuUQ&s=19

Typically, this Snap Map highlights places where there were a large number of Snaps taken with a glowing red circle, as well as places where multiple posts were made with a blue circle.

Launching from Engadget, if you look at the features in the app or on the web, you will see that there are no more indicators placed in Ukraine.

Other technology companies have also disabled a feature that can show the movement of Ukrainians leaving the country which is currently under attack by Russia.

Google has disabled live traffic data in Ukraine, including live traffic on Maps. This step was taken as an effort to protect the safety of local residents.

When announcing that they were stopping all sales of the product in Russia, Apple said that it had disabled live traffic data in Ukraine, and also to prevent the app from being used to target Ukrainian residents.