Facebook friends can now track and find each other in real time with the help of the social media company's newest Nearby Friends mobile app.

The company, which also owns Instagram, launched the feature Thursday. It can be used to notify users when friends are nearby, Facebook Product Manager Adrea Vaccari said in a statement. The feature is strictly optional, according to the press release, and can set to only allow specific friends or groups to find you.

"Sharing your location with Nearby Friends goes two ways -- you and your friends both have to turn on Nearby Friends and choose to share them with each other to see when you're nearby," Vaccari said. "Your friends will only be able to see that you're nearby if you share this info with them and vice versa."

Users could also set a precise location and time for where they'll be, essentially as a way to invite friends to meet up with one another. Additionally, the feature can be used for traveling so that any friends who may have visited your current location in the past could make suggestions on where to go.

Nearby Friends is similar to Facebook and Instagram's "check-in" feature that allows users to post the location of a shop or restaurant that they currently are in. The difference is that with check-in, the user can decide if and when to share the location, but with Nearby Friends, it constantly tracks you and posts where the person is without having to manually check-in or open the app, according to CNN.

The feature also keeps track of where the person has gone, but users can turn off the location history if they choose, as well as delete previous locations from a history.

The feature will become available to users on iOS and Android phones soon, Vaccari said.