The Signal messenger and protocol.

if we assume location sharing = latitude + longitude + unix timestamp + a ~10 minute update interval + sane defaults [0], it shouldn't be too straining of a resource. At least I don't imaging it would be. It's basically the "data" required to store the following as a message, "48.858370,2.294481,1707360628" with maybe a special header that indicates it's location sharing data. We're talking less than 340 kilobytes to store/process 10,000 messages. Even if it updated every minute, you're only sending 1,440 "location sharing" messages per day IF you've even set it to share updates for 24 hours.

Scale this to millions of people and it's just a blip in the radar, considering its not enabled by default, turns off after some time. Heck, they could even have the client only send updates if your location has changed significantly. If you're sharing location but your position hasn't changed since last message sent, it could increase the time before it sends an update to further minimize the impact. Just my 2 cents.

I do agree its probably pretty low on their to-do list. Would be nice to have tho. Monthly donor here too, super happy with the app.

[0] With the assumption that it can only be enabled with some timer to auto-disable.