We can thank new age technology for catching yet another cheater! A NYC man decided to divorce his wife after the his iPhone 4′s Find My Friends app caught her coordinates laying at another guy’s house.
Apple just released its new iOS 5 operating system with the iPhone 4. These beauts come equipped with the spankin’ new Find My Friends app. Programmers designed FMF to track and meet up with friends. If granted permission, you may see friends’ locations on a map on your iPhone’s screen. Barely a week since its birth, one might credit the app with a hidden home-wrecking ability.
On a forum on MacRumors.com, the unidentified (now assuredly single) man posted this:
Divorcing wife. Thanks iPhone 4s and Find My Friends. I got my wife a new 4s and loaded up find my friends without her knowing. She told me she was at her friends house in the east village. I’ve had suspicions about her meeting this guy who live uptown. Lo and behold, Find my Friends has her right there. These beautiful treasure trove of screen shots [is] going to play well when I meet her … at the lawyer’s office in a few weeks…thankfully, she’s the rich one.”
Can’t wait to hear all the nitty gritty deets on this one on Divorce Court. [via Good Morning America]
Though the story has a good deal of skeptics, it definitely brings up privacy issues with the stalktastic app. I know that the creators of the app likely meant well. I’m happy to nod to its potential helpfulness in locating a lost loved one, but its potential to blast down the door to stalking freaks me out. I don’t know about y’all, but I wouldn’t want to be a part of this. Not that I have anything to hide, but I couldn’t stand the thought of anyone — not a boyfriend, not my friends, or anyone — keeping savvy on my every move!
So how long can all you Lovelies wait to sign up for Find My Friends? Or are you already on board? If you already use the app, please post about your experiences below!
guest
Google (Android) has had this program forever, called latitude, I’ve been using it with my close friends for the longest time…
orchid / 105 posts
I saw the app but both my boyfriend and I decided not to use it because we trust each other. It’s funny because I JUST told my boyfriend “It’s apps like this that make it hard for cheaters, and easier for people with trust issues.” AHAHHA I don’t agree with him downloading it into her phone without her knowing, because that’s a privacy issue, but then again – she shouldn’t have been cheating! That’s hilarious. I’m going to tell my boyfriend about this one. He’ll get a good laugh out of it.
guest
Yea no finding friends app for me even if I did have an iphone. If I wanted you to know where I was I would tell you, and if I wanted you to find me so we could hang out I would have invited you along.
daisy / 599 posts
Oh God people are going to abuse this so bad. Thank God I don’t care for the iPhone.
tulip / 21 posts
@lemons_to_lemonade@xanga - haha my sentiments exactly!
guest
this is a good thing to have, but only for the paranoid .. good thing me & my boyfriend trust each other enough NOT to have this app.
sunflower / 416 posts
This is so creepy. Wow.
guest
Oh my goodness, people.
It’s not stalking if the other party CONSENTS to the “stalking”. You can’t just find anyone’s location -__- They have to “Accept” to be your friend, and they have to “Allow” their location to be found.
cherry blossom / 35 posts
^ I agree. There’s no other word for this except creepy.
orchid / 176 posts
My husband and I downloaded the app last night, but did not even think of this prospect of it. The thing is – you can turn off the ability to locate your own phone to others. You don’t even have to accept friends. Our reason for wanting it was because there have been times (once really bad!!) where I told him what restaurant/bar I was eating at and for instance… I was in Brooklyn and Google told him to go to Manhattan! So, if I turned on my location he’d easily be able to see exactly where I’m hanging and just go.
Same would go for friends who wanted to meet up with me – and I can’t tell you how many restaurants/bars there are that forgo names/internet presences to look cool. What an annoying trend!
Anyway, it has its advantages and its easy to turn off and not accept people’s curious invites, plus I’ve got nothing to hide, so I’m pretty happy with the app.
guest
My girlfriend and her boyfriend have this (or something like it) set up. It adds security for her – she’s a model and does a good deal of freelance, and she feels safer if she knows someone can see her location at all times.
It’s all in how you use it – and whether you’ve anything to hide. People can’t just see your location… you have to consent. Don’t consent to it if you’re trying to keep your location hidden. You know?
sunflower / 281 posts
That’s creepy. This will lead to thefts in my opinion. OH HEY! My friend is across the city. I’m gonna go take some shit from her apartment. Etc. And the uploading it on her phone sucks. What a dick. That sucks though. She’s the one who was cheating, but still.
It’s all just creepy to me. I’d never get that application.
orchid / 204 posts
This story doesnt surprise me at all, in fact when I saw that Find My Friends was available, me and my friends were joking that it would ‘just be a matter of time’…. yep. here it is!
guest
@TallandThinIsBetter@xanga - Haha right? Reminds of the “checking in” thing on Facebook. “Hey FB buddies, I’m at the zoo and my house is unoccupied. Come steal my shit!”
Maybe I’m just paranoid. I think texting to tell my friends where I am works just fine, if I want them to know.
guest
There’s a reason why you have to accept it first. Plus, there’s a toggle switch to “Hide from Followers”. I use it and it helps a lot. Especially, when I don’t know how to give a guide to where I am. It has its perks.