The Share My Location feature on iPhone helps users to keep track of each other’s whereabouts. It’s very useful in situations like checking how far off a person is from your meet-up point, knowing the location of your children, pinpointing the exact location of family and friends during an emergency, or tracking a lost iPhone.
Unfortunately, there’re times when you get a Location not Available, or No Location Found on Find My Friends and Find My iPhone apps. Why does it do that? Well, there’re several possible reasons, and we’ll explain them in detail.
But, first, let’s differentiate between Location not available and No Location Found on iPhone.
What does ‘location not available’ mean?
When your iPhone returns the “Location not available” error, the GPS is trying to find the person’s location and hasn’t found it yet. The possible reason could be the person is at a place with little to no cell signal or network coverage.
So, does location not available mean they turned it off? It’s possible. But they must have turned it off just as you started to check their location.
READ: Ways to find a stolen iPhone that is offline
What does ‘no location found’ mean?
The “No location found” error means GPS cannot pinpoint the exact location. The possible reasons include:
Their GPS is off
The share location feature relies heavily on GPS to track and locate your friends on your iPhone. So, your Find My app will be ineffective if it’s off or having issues.
Their phone is off
Whether they turned off their iPhone accidentally or the battery died, you won’t be able to trace them using Find My Friends.
They have activated Airplane mode
Activating the Airplane mode shuts off the internet connection and cellular signal. Therefore, when you try to locate them, you end up with the No location error.
They have logged out of iCloud
Logging out of the iCloud account means no connection to Apple servers. Therefore, their location won’t be transmitted to your device.
There’s a problem with the system
Internal system issues on either iPhone will also trigger the “No Location” error.
The account no longer exists
If your friend or family switches to an Android device, their Find My iPhone, Find My Friends, and share location on iPhone will be unreachable.
Outdated software
Outdated software is prone to bugs and glitches, some of which affect the Share my location feature.
They’re not signed in to Find My
It is impossible to locate your friends using the Find My app when logged out. You will continue to receive the Location not found error until they sign in and set up the app.
The date and time are wrong
An incorrect date or time throws the system off and affects the functioning of location services on the iPhone. As a result, no location is found on Find My iPhone or iMessage.
READ: The location feature isn’t working on Instagram
iPhone isn’t connected to the internet.
The iPhone needs an internet connection to share the connection on the Find My app successfully, and iMessage.No internet means no link to the servers, hence no data transmission.
They stopped sharing their location
Lastly, you will see the No location message when someone stops sharing their location with you.
How to fix ‘no location found’ on iPhone
Here are troubleshooting solutions to fix the location-sharing problem on iPhone.
1. Reboot your device
You should reboot the device when you suspect the “No location” error results from system bugs and glitches. This is a fast and simple way to refresh the system and get everything to work—including Find My Friends.
2. Check Apple’s system status
Confirm the Find My servers are functioning. Open this site and check the status of Find My and iMessage. If they have green dots next to them, then everything is okay. However, if the dot features a different color, the servers have a problem, and in such a case, you can only wait for Apple to solve the problem.
3. Close the app and launch it again
Exit the app and go to your home screen. If you have an iPhone with a home button, double-click the home button to access the recently-opened app cards. Look for the Find My Friends app and swipe it up to force-close.
If your iPhone doesn’t have a home button, swipe the screen and stop at the center or when you see the app cards. Swipe the cards to the right or left until you find the Find My Friends app, and swipe it up to force-close.
Tap on the app to launch it and check if you can locate your friend or family.
4. Check your internet
Ensure the internet connection is stable. If your Wi-Fi has a problem, switch to cellular data and vice versa. You should then enable and disable the Airplane mode. If the problem doesn’t go away, reset your network settings. Go to Settings > General > Reset > Reset network.
5. Remove the friend from Find My Friends and add them again
You can remove the friend from Find My Friends and add them again to see if the “No Location” error disappears.
Open the Find My Friends app and tap people at the bottom of the screen. Next, tap the name of the person to remove it. Tap Remove [name] and confirm by tapping Remove.
Also, you could swipe left across the person’s name and tap on the trash icon.
To add friends on Find My Friends (iOS 12 and below), Open Find My Friends > Tap Add > Select a Friend > Tap Done. A request will be sent to the friend to share their location.
If you’re using iOS 13:
- Tap Me
- Enable Share My Location
- Tap Use this iPhone as My Location.
- Scroll to the bottom of the People List and tap Share My Location
- Type the name of the person you want to share the location with.
- Tap the (+) sign and select the contact
- Tap on send and select how long you want to share the location.
To ask the person to share their location, Tap their name in the People list and tap on Ask to follow Location. Wait for them to accept your request.
6. Delete and reinstall the Find My app from the app store
If the “No Location Found” popup shows when you try to locate a friend or family on Find My, remove the app and reinstall it. Go to your home screen, tap, and hold the app until you see the remove icon on top of the app.
In some iPhone models, the app will start to wiggle. Tap the remove icon, then tap Delete App and confirm by tapping Delete again.
You can restart your iPhone, go to App Store and search for Find My app. Download and install it, then set up and check if Share my location works.
7. Reset location and privacy
You should try and reset your location and privacy settings to default and see if it helps. Go to Settings > General > Privacy > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Reset > Reset Location and Privacy. Follow the onscreen prompts to complete the process.
8. Enable location service on your iPhone
If you disabled location services on your device and forgot to turn it on, go to Settings > Privacy > Location and toggle it On.
9. Enable Share My Location
Confirm that Share My Location is enabled on your iPhone. Go to Settings > iCloud > Share My Location. Toggle it On.
10. Correct the date and time
Check if the date and time on your iPhone are correct. Ideally, you can activate Set Automatically so the system can reset itself. Go to Settings > General > Date & Time > Set Automatically.
11. Update your software
Ensure your iPhone has the latest iOS update to prevent bugs, system errors, and security threats. Go to Settings > General > Software Update.
12. Ask your Friend to share the location again
If the location was sent through iMessage, its sharing time limit might have expired. Ask your friend to share the location again.
13. Wait for your friend to fix things on their end
When you’re certain the problem is not on your end, you’ll have to wait until your friend fixes their end. You can ask them to follow all the troubleshooting tips used above.
No location found vs. location not available: Final thoughts
To conclude, does no location found mean they stopped sharing their location? It could be, or they’re dealing with several other abovementioned issues.
It’s hard to know for sure. But, if you tried all the solutions and nothing worked, you can conclude they stopped sharing their location. If you are looking to hide your location, consider using NordVPN.
Read: What is the Tracking Notifications app on iPhone?
Alex is an IT technician who shares his experiences with Apple devices occasionally. He has a collection of Apple devices (from iPhone 4) and has recently started trying out Android.
IG: @I M_Alex