Whether she’s out partying or shopping, or spending the night at her boyfriend’s house, Anne’s roommates know where she is 24/7. And she in turn can track her roommates’ movements, because the four students are constantly sharing their location with each other. ‘When they’re on a date, I follow them live to check that everything’s going well, and that they’re not suddenly relocating to a strange place.’

The incentive for it was quite unpleasant: one night, two of Anne’s* four roommates went out to party and lost track of each other. Roommate 1 thought: ‘She’s probably already gone home!’ which wasn’t the case. Roommate 2 turned out to have gone to spend the night elsewhere. After this incident, the four women installed an app that allows them to track each other’s movements at all times. Anne shares what it’s like to be followed 24/7.

Constantly sharing your location: many people would experience it as a serious violation of their privacy. Doesn’t it bother you?
‘It’s true that I had to get used to it at first. The thought that someone always knows where you are, that was hard. In the end I decided to give it a try. If it didn’t feel right, I could always delete the app.

But it didn’t have such a drastic impact at all. We already always knew where the other ones were, because we tell each other everything. If I’m in Nijmegen with friends, or in my hometown with my parents, my roommates know about it anyway. In that sense, it doesn’t really feel like a violation of my privacy.’

When do you use the app?
‘I mostly use it when my roommates are out on a date. You hear such horrible stories about dates going wrong. So I follow along live to check that everything’s ok, and that they don’t suddenly relocate to a strange place. At times like this, I find it reassuring to be able to follow each other. If something happens, I’ll know straight away.’

What do you do if you see something strange?
‘One of our roommates is abroad at the moment, and we even keep track of her there. The other day, we noticed that she hadn’t been online for more than 24 hours. We looked at the app, and we saw that the last time she’d checked in was on an isolated car park. So I made some phone calls to find out whether anyone knew where she was and why she wasn’t online. Luckily, there was nothing wrong. She was in the countryside and had no signal.’

It sounds like it’s keeping you busy.
‘It’s not that bad. And there are nicer stories, too. If I see that one of us is at the supermarket, I ask whether she can grab some biscuits. One roommate has even set the app so that she gets notified anytime one of us is anywhere near the Jumbo, so she can ask us if she needs anything.

‘We also use the app when we meet for lunch at the University’

We also use the app when we meet for lunch at the University. You can see where the other person is walking, and you can go and stand in a convenient spot, so they’ll see you. If we haven’t seen someone emerge from their room all day, we check that we’re all really home. And when we eat together, we can see when the other ones start cycling home. For us, it’s become very normal. We’re not consciously using it all the time – we mostly use the app for practical things.’

Do you feel safer knowing that your roommates can always see where you are?
‘We’ve done it for nearly a year now, so I’m not so aware of it anymore. Maybe it would help if I ever end up in an unsafe situation, knowing that my roommates could see where I am. Luckily, that’s never happened yet. Actually, if I feel unsafe, I usually call my boyfriend. Last week, for example, I was cycling home, and it was quite dark. When that’s the case, I usually choose a better lit route. But I still felt unsafe, so I called my boyfriend. At times like this, I don’t think “My roommates can follow my location”. Now I think: if something had happened, they would have seen where I was last. That does offer a bit of extra safety.’

Would you recommend it to other people?
‘I wouldn’t use this kind of app with my friends, because we don’t live in the same house, and they don’t usually know where I am. If I tell my roommates that I’m going to the campus, and they see that I’m suddenly in the middle of nowhere, they’ll think it strange, and they’ll message me to ask whether everything is all right.

It’s useful for specific times with my friends, though. For example, the other day I was at a festival, and I shared my location not only with the friends I was with, but also with the boyfriend of one of them. That way, if one of us was to suddenly disappear from the festival grounds, it wouldn’t be just us who could see that something wasn’t right, but he could see it too.

If you want to share your location 24/7, you should do it with the people you live with or with people who always know where you are anyway. That creates a sense of safety. Otherwise, it’s just for fun.’

* To respect her roommates’ privacy, Anne’s name has been changed.