Loopt App for iPhone Review: A Free Way to Let Your Friends Track You and Track Them with GPS

Loopt App for iPhone Review: A Free Way to Let Your Friends Track You and Track Them with GPS
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Unconventional Communication

New technology has opened up the possibility for communication between people. The old options of phone, mail, and email are now eclipsed by things like instant messaging and social networking websites. This makes mobile phones themselves have the need to step up their options beyond their original purposes. Now the iPhone has made available Loopt, which takes you one step farther beyond regular distance communication.

GPS Tool

Loopt uses the GPS abilities of the iPhone to help you find your friends’ location on a larger map. The program allows you to add friends to also have Loopt and from there receive information from them. Much like websites as Facebook or MySpace, you create somewhat of a profile except now the purpose is to show your exact location. From here you can see your other friends’ locations and information about them that they may have posted.

Snooping Fun

This program can be a lot of fun, especially when you want to see what friends and family are doing before you attempt to contact them. In a way this feels like an amazing development in your phone that now allows you to actually track people.

Down Side

Beyond the fact that this is an amazing invasion of privacy for many people, the program has a number of flaws. First off you have to have an acceptable phone to even have Loopt. This means that ninety percent, or more, of your contacts will not even have access to this application and therefore will not be able to be one of your friends. From this population they then must download the application and also add you as a friend, lowering the possible number even further. It is true that you can add people that are not already in your phonebook, but the chances that someone would want you as their Loopt friend but do not know you well enough to call is slim. This fact aside, the map that is used to actually show the location of people is slow to load at best. Often times it fails to load up period, rendering the program completely useless.

Still Free

Since Loopt is free you can try it out with really no risk. In the end you have to decide if it is worth having in your phone, and if you really want people to see where you are at all times. Four out of ten stars.

This post is part of the series: Application Reviews

A series of reviews for common iPhone applications.

  1. Where Are You? - Loopt
  2. Name That Song - Shazam
  3. Getting Internet and Tech News with Net News Wire for the iPhone
  4. Review of the Facebook App for the iPhone
  5. BrainTuner: A Brain Teaser in Mediocrity
  6. Review of the Remote iPhone Application
  7. Have a Drink on Your iPhone Using the iPint App
  8. The Complete Works of Shakespeare
  9. Pocket Reference
  10. An In-Depth Review of Mobile News for the iPhone
  11. Smack A Toon Lite: A Mild Amusement
  12. QuickSend
  13. Smiling Rage: Expando Review
  14. Taking it Old School: Arcade Hoops Review
  15. Darts App Review: Skip the Bar and Throw Darts on Your iPhone
  16. Is the Pac-Man iPhone Game Worth the Money?
  17. Professor of Drinkology
  18. Finding the Network: The WiFinder Review
  19. Time in the Night: Night Stand Review
  20. Tube Time: i.TV Review
  21. Going International: Daily Planet Review
  22. Measuring the Swell: Surf Report Review
  23. iBoredom: Tic Tac Free
  24. Spiritual Warfare: Tap Defense Review
  25. Find Your Way Through Mazes with the Labyrinth iPhone Game
  26. Free Recipes on Your iPhone: Big Oven App Review
  27. Stanza for iPhone Review: Find Another eBook App
  28. A Drawing Pad for Your iPhone: Scribble Review