Bubbles,
not pins.
Small World tells you when a friend is nearby — as a bubble around roughly where they are. For the meet-up you'd otherwise have missed.
You were four streets away and neither of you knew.
That's the problem Small World solves. The friend who works round the corner. The one at the same festival. The one out on the same night as you.
Know when they're close
A notification when a friend is nearby.
An area, not an address
Friends see a bubble you're somewhere inside — never a pin, and never your exact spot.
You decide who, and when
Turn off sharing for a whole group, hide from one person from their profile, or switch it off for everyone at once.
Flow 1
Get set up
Sign in, add your friends, and turn sharing on.
- 1The share icon sits top-right on your Friends list. It opens your code — a friend scans it, or you send them the link instead. Adding someone sends a request; you’re connected once it’s accepted.
- 2Nobody sees you until you turn sharing on. It starts off.
- 3And the same switch turns it off again, whenever you like.
Flow 2
See who's nearby
Sharing does not put your friends on a map. Someone appears only once your two bubbles overlap — and because you each set your own bubble size, you both have a say in how close "nearby" has to be. It's built for the meet-up you'd have missed, not for checking where anyone is.
- 1A friend who's nearby right now. An area rather than a spot — they’re somewhere inside it, and it isn’t drawn around where they actually are.
- 2Yours is drawn the same way, so you always see what they see of you.
- 3Your radius, your call — widen it whenever you want to be vaguer.
Need to actually find each other? Either of you can turn on precise location from your chat, for a limited time. That's an exact position instead of a bubble — and it's the only way one is ever shown.
Flow 3
When you cross paths
A push notification tells you when a friend is nearby.
- 1How long you've been near each other, counting up live.
- 2A card sits at the top of your chat for as long as you're still close.
- 3From that card, find somewhere to meet — the next flow.
Flow 4
Decide where to meet
Once you've crossed paths, the card in your chat can find you somewhere to meet. Tap Find a place and Small World looks between the two of you rather than around one of you, so nobody ends up doing all the walking.
- 1Four categories — coffee, food, a bar, a park.
- 2Well reviewed, and open.
- 3It lands in the chat as a card you can both tap. You can also share any place into Small World straight from Google Maps.
Flow 5
Put your area on your story
Share what your bubble looks like — a story shows that same area to your friends wherever they are, not just the ones close enough to appear on your map. Out somewhere good and not sure who else is about? It's a standing invitation to anyone who fancies it, without having to message a soul.
- 1A story is your bubble, not a photo of your street. The same obfuscated area your friends would see on the map.
- 2It tells you the audience before you post — exactly how many friends this shows your area to.
- 3And who actually looked.
Privacy
The bubble is vague on purpose.
Your bubble holds still while you're around the same place — so a friend sees roughly where you are.
- Sharing works both ways. If you stop sharing, you stop seeing — and you stop appearing on your friends' maps once any overlap you're already in has ended.
- An exact position is never shown unless you deliberately turn on precise location for a specific friend.
- Your bubble is built from your phone's accuracy. When that reading is poor the bubble can sit a little off, and it settles again on the next better one.
- You choose who sees you. Groups switch between Sharing and Hidden, and you can hide from one person without leaving the group.
- Delete your account and your data goes with it.
Questions
- Can my friends see exactly where I am?
- No. Friends see a bubble — a wide area you're somewhere inside, and it isn't drawn around where you actually are. It holds still while you're around the same place, so a friend who checks in sees roughly the same thing each time. The only exception is precise location, which you turn on yourself from a chat, for a limited time, and can stop at any point.
- Can my friends see me all the time?
- No. Nobody appears on your map just because you're both sharing. A friend shows up once the two of you are actually near each other — near enough that your bubbles overlap. The session then stays open for a short while after you drift apart. That's deliberate: it gives you both time to notice the notification, read it and reply, instead of the moment vanishing the second you round a corner.
- Who can see me?
- Only friends you've added and who have accepted. Beyond that it's yours to shape: sort friends into groups and switch any group between Sharing and Hidden, or hide from one person on their own while everyone else in that group carries on as normal. Sharing is off until you turn it on, it works both ways, and you can stop all of it at once.
- Does it keep a history of where I have been?
- No. Small World stores your latest location and nothing else — there is no trail, no timeline and no history to look back through.
- When can I get it on iOS?
- Android comes first — that's where we're testing, and where the first release will land. An iPhone version will follow, gradually. The store links on this page go live the moment each listing does.
Bubbles, not pins.
Android and iPhone, coming soon.