Originally available as a web app, the official Google Latitude app has made it’s way to the iPhone and is now finally available for download in the iTunes App Store.

With Latitude, you can:

• See your friends on a map – find out who’s nearby and meet up.
• Share your location continuously with whomever you choose – help friends and family stay in touch with you, even when you can’t take out your phone.
• Control your privacy – share only city-level location, hide your location, or turn off background updating at any time.

Google Latitude for iPhone also takes advantage of background-ing capability available in iOS 4.x and above. So even if the app is closed or if your screen is turned off, Latitude will continue to update your location in the background.

For those of you don’t know, Google launched Latitude in early 2009 as a way to easily keep track of your friends’ locations in real-time. Android, BlackBerry, Windows Mobile and Symbian users have been able to take advantage of the service for some time with background updating, which automatically updates their Latitude location. Now with an official app, combined background GPS updating features in iPhone OS 4, iPhone users too will be able to take advantage of all Latitude has to offer.

Apple blocked Google’s first attempt at releasing a Latitude app last year (Google said Apple was worried users would confuse it with the Maps app), so Google released a Latitude web app that let users manually update their locations. Being a web app, it couldn’t offer the convenient background updating feature that was offered on other platforms.

Latitude is the second rejected Google service to get an official iPhone app in the past month. Apple finally approved an official Google Voice app last month, after similarly rejecting it last year. Google also went the web app route with Voice after Apple’s rejection, but just like Latitude, it was no replacement for a native app. Apple’s change of heart can be traced back to its relaxed iPhone app rules announced in September.

Check out the app in action:

Google Latitude for iPhone is available for free, and can be downloaded from iTunes App Store via the link given below.

Download Google Latitude for iPhone [iTunes Link]

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Authors: _GadgetNews

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