Glympse app gets integrated with Ford SYNC

Ford car owners with SYNC AppLink can now enable voice-controlled location sharing through the Glympse app on their iPhones.

To use Glympse, drivers must have the app installed on an iOS or Android-based smartphone. The car automatically recognizes the app when the phone is Bluetooth-paired or USB-connected. With Glympse activated, drivers simply need to press the SYNC voice button on the steering wheel and say, "Send Glympse." Users can send a Glympse to a friend's email or mobile number, or to Facebook and Twitter.

Recipients can then monitor the vehicle's progress and ETA via a real-time dynamic map, on either a smartphone or desktop. After the user-defined time limit expires, the location is no longer updated.

Glympse has been a favorite app around here, and it joins a growing legion of apps that are designed to work with car systems so dashboard controls link to apps rather than having to manipulate the phone while driving. We've seen automakers add services like Pandora, Rhapsody, Aha and BeCouply. BMW has its own app that puts web radio, news, Twitter and Facebook on the dashboard screen, and other car makers are following suit.