'Find My Friends' Feature Spotted in iOS 4.3 Beta

A new feature called “Find My Friends” is expected to arrive in an upcoming iOS software update from Apple, but not necessarily iOS 4.3, the newest iOS version of which the first beta builds just made it in the hands of developers this week.

Those who’ve been curious enough to check with the files that may indicate future changes are glad to report that Apple is planning the addition of a Find My Friends feature that will work similarly to Google’s Latitude service, or Loopt, a GPS sharing service that allows users to visualize one another, and share information, using their cell phones.

According to MacRumors (apparently the original source reporting on this new finding), the code strings are associated with the Settings application in iOS.

The service appears to be related to "MobileMe," Apple’s cloud-based service.

While not confirmed as a new addition in iOS 4.3, it is reasonable to assume that Apple plans to introduce the new service relatively soon, considering Steve Jobs’ promise that MobileMe would get "a lot better in 2011".

Softpedia reported in December 2010 that, according to a purported email from Apple’s CEO, MobileMe will see major improvements in 2011, including better file syncing across devices.

An Apple fanatic, the MacRumors reader who allegedly had an email conversation with Steve Jobs, was becoming increasingly frustrated by the functionality of Apple’s $99-a year service.

He specifically noted that MobileMe was making it very difficult for him to stay inside Apple’s ecosystem.

The conversation, as published by the rumor site, went:

Q: I love my iPad and iPhone4 and am a huge fan of yours and all that Apple does. I desperately want to stay inside of Apple'e ecosystem as much as possible.

However, MobileMe is making it very difficult for me to do so. Unreliable/unpredictable syncing, creating duplicate entries (sometimes scores of them), etc. It's almost unusable.

And I know from forums (including Apple's own support boards) that I am not the only one experiencing these very real and frustrating problems.

Please tell me it will get better, and soon?

A: Yes, it will get a lot better in 2011.

Sent from my iPhone