Microsoft is developing an app called People Sense, which appears to be a Windows Phone equivalent to Apple’s Find My Friends.
The app, which is currently operating under the working title of Buddy Aware, has been taken through its paces by Spanish website Microsoft Place.
It shows an app that uses Bing Maps to locate other Windows Phone-using friends in real time. You can also call and message those friends directly from within the app.
It’s also possible to get directions to the other person using an installed app of your choice – HERE Drive and Moovit were used as examples in the walkthrough.
All in all, it appears to be a belated attempt to emulate the Find My Friends app found on Apple’s iPhone range.
There’s no news on when Windows Phone users might see People Sense appearing, but it appears to be in the Beta testing phase at present.
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One question that needs to be answered is whether People Sense will launch on Windows Phone 8.1, or is it being targeted as a Windows 10 feature late in the year?
But perhaps the bigger question here is, how useful will an app like People Sense be in a world filled with iPhones and Android phones? If only your Windows Phone-using friends are listed (which they appear to be), then it’s going be a rather sparsely populated map.
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.