'Location Not Found' in Find My: What It Means & How to Fix It
You open Find My to see your daughter and, under her name, “Location Not Found”. It's almost never serious and it's almost always one of six things. They're listed in order, from most likely to least likely.
- 1. Their iPhone is off, out of battery, or in Airplane Mode
- 2. No signal or data
- 3. Location is off or Find My doesn't have permission
- 4. They've stopped sharing with you
- 5. Their iPhone's date and time are wrong
- 6. A passing glitch in Apple or the app
- If what you see is “X minutes ago”
- What Find My can't do (and what other apps are for)
Find My is very good at locating family members with an iPhone, until one day a name shows “Location Not Found” or “Location Unavailable” and your heart skips a beat. Apple explains in its guide that “Location Not Found” appears when that person can't be located at that moment; it doesn't mean anything has happened to them. Here are the real causes, from most to least common.
1. Their iPhone is off, out of battery, or in Airplane Mode
The most common one. Without battery there's no location to send, and in Airplane Mode there's none either. As soon as they turn the phone on or leave Airplane Mode, you'll see them again. A recent iPhone that's off can still show up in Find My as a device (through the Find My network), but that's for finding the iPhone, not the person.
2. No signal or data
GPS works without a network, but sending the location needs mobile data or Wi-Fi. In the subway, a basement, the countryside, or with data turned off, Find My receives nothing. When the signal comes back, it updates on its own. What happens to location without signal.
3. Location is off or Find My doesn't have permission
On their iPhone, Settings › Privacy & Security › Location Services has to be on, and Find My needs permission set to “While Using the App” or “Always.” Also check Settings › their name › Find My, where “Share My Location” has to be on. If they have several devices, that same screen lets them choose which one they share from: if they share from an iPad sitting at home, you'll see the iPad, not them.
4. They've stopped sharing with you
If someone stops sharing their location with you, Apple doesn't send you any notice: you simply stop seeing them and, according to Apple's guide, any arrival alerts you had set up for them turn off. In the list it usually appears as “Location Unavailable” or “Can See My Location” (they can see you, but you can't see them). The solution is to ask them, not to change settings.
5. Their iPhone's date and time are wrong
It's surprising, but it happens: if the iPhone's clock doesn't match the real time, Find My may refuse to show their position. Settings › General › Date & Time › “Set Automatically.”
6. A passing glitch in Apple or the app
Close Find My and open it again, or restart the iPhone. If every family member shows no location at the same time, check Apple's System Status page: sometimes the problem is on Apple's end.
If what you see is “X minutes ago”
That's not an error. It's the last known position with its timestamp, because the phone saves battery while it's still or has lost signal for a while. The five causes of “10 minutes ago”.
What Find My can't do (and what other apps are for)
Find My doesn't work with Android, has no SOS or chat, doesn't show other people's battery levels, and doesn't keep a history. If someone in your family uses Android, or you want an automatic alert when someone arrives, an SOS to your circle, and to know how much battery is left before you worry, that's what a family location app is for. Mi Estela, for example, always shows the last position with its time and, if the person shares it, the battery they had, so “not found” doesn't scare you. Find My and Mi Estela, head to head.
Sources
- Apple: Locate a friend in Find My (User Guide)
- Apple: Stop sharing your location in Find My (User Guide)
- Apple: Share your location with friends and family
