How To Freeze Your Find My Iphone Location

This guide explains how to hibernate your iPhone location from Discover My Friends and iMessage location tracking. It is easy to disable Observe My Friends without others knowing yous're trying to hide your location from them.

With Find My and iMessage location sharing information technology'south like shooting fish in a barrel to feel like you're constantly being watched by friends or family unit members who can meet your location whenever they desire to. They can fifty-fifty set up alerts to allow them know when y'all arrive at or exit specific locations.

While we are all spending more time at home, perhaps you are heading to the park, running to the store, or simply driving into the country to scream-sing a favorite song until the world makes sense again. When you lot do this, you may not want anyone to know that you've left home. You might even just need a x-minute break in a parking lot before you head abode. No judgment. Here'southward how y'all can work that in without friends or family seeing where you are.

You lot can simply just stop sharing your location with friends or family in the Find My app, only in some cases, you may not want them to know you're looking for privacy. You lot may just want to get off the grid for a bit, or yous may demand to hide your location for another reason without stopping your iPhone location sharing completely.

When you terminate sharing your iPhone location with someone, they will meet this change equally a message in the iMessage app, and another message when you re-share with them — so turning off and on sharing isn't a great way to hide your location, or at to the lowest degree not to hide that you are hiding the location.

Read: How to Fake iPhone Location

Remember, most methods of turning off location sharing exercise not hide your location from your cell phone service provider, from a government agency with a warrant. It simply hides the iPhone location from people yous are usually sharing it with.

Instead, you will want to rely on a different method, such every bit turning your iPhone off, enabling Plane mode, or sharing from another iPhone or iPad. This guide is updated to work with iOS xiv, which well-nigh iPhones are running now in 2021.  Apple is currently testing ways to let you know if apps are tracking your location in iOS 14.five beta, which hopefully means it will be easier to hibernate your location in the coming months.

How you can hide your iPhone location from Detect My Friends and iMessage

There are a few means y'all can hibernate your iPhone location from your friends or family unit without them knowing that yous did this. Keep in mind if you own a cellular Apple Watch, information technology can rails your location even if you leave the iPhone at home.  You don't need to exit your Apple AirTags behind since only y'all tin can see your AirTags' locations. All the same, Tile trackers do permit anyone you've shared them with to see their locations and even their location history. Whether yous like it or non, Tile, AirTags, and other trackers can exist used to rails your location without permission.

Fastest Way to Hide Your iPhone Location

The fastest style to hide your location is to turn Airplane way on past opening Control Center and tapping the Plane logo.

Swipe down on the meridian-correct of the iPhone, then tap the Airplane logo to hide location fast

This will disable cellular connections and WiFi, which will stop someone from seeing your location. The iPhone may show the last known location, so do this before you head off to your next destination.

Unfortunately, this method means you cannot make calls. If you turn WiFi on to scan the Internet or use any apps, Observe My Friends will show others your location, though it may non be as precise equally when y'all accept your iPhone's cellular connexion turned on.

This method is all-time used if you merely need to unplug for a little while without someone tracking you downwardly Just retrieve that y'all won't exist able to transport or receive calls or messages with Plane mode enabled. In one case you're ready to share your location again, just disable Airplane style by swiping downwardly at the peak of your iPhone's screen and tapping on the Plane way icon again.

The best style to hide your location from the Find My app and iMessage tracking is to just share from some other iOS device that is in a stationary location. With this method, it can also make it look similar you are in another place.

If y'all accept an iPad that is at abode or at work, you can share it from that location. When someone checks, they will still see the location of your second device, but it volition not be where you actually are. Instead, information technology will show where your iPad is. Even if it's a WiFi-only iPad that doesn't have GPS it can still share a location using WiFi. It's not as precise, only it's shut plenty for these purposes.

This is how to hide your iPhone location by sharing from another device.

To share your location from another device;

1. On the other device Open Settings
2. Tap on your proper noun at the top.
3. Tap on Find My.
4. Tap on Use This iPhone as My Location.

You lot may need to tap on Use This iPad as My Location. You can share from a spare iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad. If you are on iOS xiii or newer, you need to use the second device to change the location.

When you are done, switch the location back to your iPhone. Using this method, there is no alert that you've changed and there is no gap in your location history.

This will not hibernate your devices' location from those who are Family unit Sharing members. That's considering Apple tree'south Family Sharing service is set upward then family members tin can assist each other observe lost devices. If they go to the Find My app while yous're trying to hibernate from them by leaving ane device at habitation, they volition be able to come across exactly where all of your devices are.  So in the in a higher place example, they would exist able to see that your iPad is at domicile, merely your iPhone is on the move.

If y'all want to hide your iPhone'south location from family unit sharing members, you will need to disable location services and Discover My on your iPhone.

How to Stop Sharing Your iPhone Location

If y'all want to hide your location from Find My Friends and iMessage without using another device or turning off location sharing with a particular person you tin turn Share My Location off completely.

With this pick, yous become invisible to friends and family, and they do non get whatever kind of alert that yous stopped sharing your iPhone's location.

This is how to plow off location sharing on your iPhone.

To stop sharing your location from your iPhone;

1. Open Settings
2. Tap on your name at the top.
3. Tap on Find My.
4. Tap the toggle next to Share My Location to off.

When you lot are fix to share your location over again, opposite these directions and y'all can showtime sharing your location again with all of the people you lot've added in Find My.

Continue in listen that making these changes volition only hide your location from friends and from iMessage, information technology volition non hibernate your location from police enforcement. If y'all are sharing your location with someone, they will prove up on this screen so that y'all know that you are sharing.

While you have My Location turned off, friends and family won't exist able to see your location in the main 'People' section of the Find My app. Don't forget that your last known location, along with a timestamp will still be visible to them on the Find My map.

Until you've disabled location with one of the above methods, people can still receive notifications whenever your iPhone leaves or arrives at pre-determined locations. Yous'll never know if or when they receive these notifications.

Some people have an ongoing warning that sends a notification whenever their spouse leaves piece of work so they know when to expect them home. Some parents have notifications set up to alert them whenever their kids leave schoolhouse and arrive home safely.

Hide Precise Location & Show Approximate Location  (no notifications!)

You lot can hide your location from anyone by turning off Precise Location in the Find My and Messages apps. This is perfect if you lot don't have access to an extra iPhone or iPad to share your location from. Turning off  Precise Location means that others will be able to encounter which urban center you're in, but not the specific address.

In iOS 14, Apple added the Precise and Guess location characteristic for privacy. This allows apps to serve you personalized content without knowing exactly where you lot are. For example, news apps probably simply demand to know which city or town you're in to serve you relevant articles. They don't need to know exactly where y'all are.

If you're ok with your friends and family unit knowing which city or neighborhood yous're in, simply desire to obscure exactly where you are, follow these steps:

1. Open up Settings
2. Select Privacy
3. Select Location Services
4. Tap on Discover My.
5. Tap on the icon next to "Precise Location" so it's no longer green
6. Repeat the in a higher place process for the Messages app and other apps

In one case y'all deselect Precise Location, your friends and family unit will only exist able to get a full general sense of where you are. This volition obscure your location somewhere between 0.5 and 12 miles. This method of hiding your location won't exercise yous any skilful if you're trying to hide a trip out of boondocks, but if you want to hide the fact that you've left home to go to a friend'due south house in the aforementioned city.

For example, the iPhone'southward location on this map covers about one-half of San Francisco instead of an exact address. The location bubble doesn't re-center around your exact location when you move inside the bubble. This tin can make it look similar you oasis't left your location if anyone has alerts prepare for when you lot leave or arrive at certain locations.

Hide Your Location from iMessage Contacts

If you share your location via the Messages app, you can hide your location with a couple of taps from within Messages. Just remember that the Messages app will send your contact an iMessage letting them know you lot stopped sharing your location.

1. Open up theMessages App
2. Select a conversation of the Contact you want to stop sharing your location with
3. Tap on the info icon below and to the right of your contact's name
4. Tap on Stop Sharing My Location

Unless you're absolutely sure that y'all don't mind sharing your iPhone's location with someone indefinitely, I suggest selecting "Share Until Finish of Twenty-four hour period" or "Share for One Hour." That fashion you tin just allow it elapse after meeting up with your friend rather than having to go through the to a higher place process.

One affair to remember is that if someone has physical admission to your phone, they can start sharing their location merely as hands with a couple of taps. People have been caught turning on location sharing with them when they briefly have access to others' iPhones. So exist careful of who you hand your telephone to if location privacy is a business. Even handing your phone to a friend to snap a motion-picture show of yous can be plenty time for them to enable location sharing.

If you want to hide your iPhone'due south location completely there's simply one foolproof mode. That's to plow off your iPhone so that it stops broadcasting your location and you won't accidentally share it.

To plow off your iPhone, press and hold the Volume Up Push button and the Side Button on the right of your iPhone at the same time. And then slide the power icon at the top of the screen from left to right.

Equally mentioned before, law enforcement and your telephone company can expect up your iPhone'due south location in certain circumstances. By and large, this is limited to a warrant, amendment, or emergency situations. Your iPhone is constantly emitting signals that can help them track your phone down even with location services disabled. For example, they can narrow down your location based on which cell towers your iPhone is connected to.

There are also countless iPhone apps that log your location more often than you may realize. For case, Google keeps a record of everywhere your iPhone's been for years. Every time y'all accept a photo on your iPhone it captures the precise location. And so if you take a selfie and send it to someone via Letters, email, or any other method, they tin can see exactly where it was taken. So be conscientious if you lot snap a selfie and send information technology to someone when you're non where yous're supposed to be.

The latest version of iOS periodically shows notifications for apps that utilise your location in the background, but don't count on them. If someone installs an app to runway your location, you may not receive or notice such a notification.  If you lot are trying to hide from someone who had access to your iPhone, such equally a parent or ex-spouse, you should review the listing of apps that have access to your location in Privacy–> Settings–> Location Services. Select "Never" next to every app except the ones you are comfortable with.

If you simply plough your iPhone off, y'all'll protect others from finding out where you are AND where you went while the iPhone was turned off. While it would certainly exist an invasion of your privacy, it's quite easy for someone to determine your location history should they have a run a risk to snoop through your iPhone.

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Last update on 2022-12-thirty. This post may contain affiliate links. Click here to read our disclosure policy for more details. Images via Amazon API

Source: https://www.gottabemobile.com/how-to-hide-iphone-location-from-find-my-friends-imessage/

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