Having trouble sharing your location on your iPhone? Many of us share our location from iPhone to other iPhones or to any other devices to ensure our safety. But, suddenly if sharing location stops on your iPhone it can be quite frustrating.
One of the main reasons for not being able to share location on iPhone is that location services are turned off. Location services use GPS, Bluetooth and sometimes even WiFi to access your location so when it is turned off your iPhone cannot determine your location.
Other than location services, there can be few other reasons also. So if you are having problems sharing your location on your iPhone, keep on reading to know more.
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What Is Location Services On iPhone?
iPhone users can find their current geographic position in the whole world thanks to Location services
. This technology works using GPS, cellular networks, Bluetooth, and even WiFi networks to determine the user’s longitude and latitude.
Additionally, the working procedure for location services is similar for iOS and android devices. All iPhones include a built-in GPS system to track position that uses satellites to transmit location data to the device’s receiver.
As a result when location services are turned on you can easily share your location to everyone including friends and family from your iPhone.
Why Is Sharing Location Not Working On iPhone?
Sharing your location on your iPhone can be pretty important as you may be sharing location with your family and friends to ensure safety. Additionally, you will need to share your location when calling for rides like Uber online.
Whatever the reason may be, not being able to share location on iPhone can be quite annoying and this can happen for many reasons. Keep on reading to know more.
Location Services are turned off
One of the main reasons for not being able to share your location on iPhone is that your location services are turned off. Location services enable the GPS to start tracking your location and then you can share it.
You are signed out of iCloud
You can only share your location on iPhone if you are signed into your iCloud account. If you are not signed in you won’t find any option for location sharing.
Bad Internet Connection
In order to share your real-time position, whether it be over Wi-Fi or cellular data, location sharing requires an active internet connection.
Therefore, location sharing may not function properly when there is no internet connection or when the network signal is weak.
Sharing location in Find My is turned off
Another reason for not being able to share your location is that the sharing location is turned off in “Find My”.
Find My is an unique feature of iPhone that enables you to find your lost iPhone as well as see its real time location from any other device.
iPhone may be in airplane mode
Airplane mode temporarily restricts your network and GPS to track your location. So, when airplane mode is turned off you won’t be able to share your location
Outdated iOS and Apps
Outdated iOS versions and apps like “Find My” and Google Maps can also lead to problems with the location sharing on your iPhone.
Incorrect Date and time
Even though this is a small problem, location sharing might still have problems if the date or time is off.
How To Fix Location Sharing On iPhone?
By now you already know what issues might be preventing you from sharing location on iPhone but not to worry; the fixes are quite easy.
Sign in To Your iCloud
Before trying out any other fixes, make sure you signed into your iCloud account. To sign in into your iCloud account, go to the settings on your iPhone and look at the top, you will see a notification “Sign in to your iPhone”.
Follow the on screen instruction and sign in with your Apple ID and password and then try to share your location. If it doesn’t work you might wanna check other settings.
Turn on Locations Services
Once you are done signing into your iCloud account, move to check whether or not you have turned on location services. This must be on if you want to share your location on iPhone.
Go to the settings on your iPhone and scroll down to “Privacy”; here you will see location services, enter that and toggle the slider beside it to turn it on.
If your location sharing was causing issues due to this, it should be solved by now.
Check Location Sharing on Find My
Find My feature of an iPhone that allows location sharing on iPhone, so when location sharing is turned off in Find My, you will need to turn it on. To turn it on go to settings, and enter your Apple ID.
You will see a few different options there; select Find My and turn on “Share My Location” and you should be good to go.
Check if Airplane Mode Is Turned On
Sometimes, airplane mode might be turned on your iPhone which restricts you to share location on iPhone. To turn it off, scroll up from the bottom of your iPhone to access the control center.
Do keep in mind Airplane mode doesn’t turn GPS off but when it’s turned on, it restricts GPS and WiFI temporarily. But, you can still turn these services on by keeping Airplane mode on.
In the control center menu at the very top you will see a “Airplane” logo and tap on it to turn off Airplane Mode. When the Airplane mode is turned off, the logo will look like the above screenshot.
Make Sure Your Internet Connection Is Working
Location sharing on iPhone highly depends on internet connection, so when you notice that you can’t share location on iPhone. So at first check if your WiFi is correctly working or not; go to settings and check your WiFi.
So when your WiFi is not working, try to shift to Data from your carrier and see if you can share location. Open the control center and press on the logo as you can see from the image above and when it turns green, your data is turned on.
You can also restart your iPhone as sometimes restarting the iPhone fixes network issues or temporary glitches. If you see location sharing works perfectly that means the problem was with your WiFi connection.
Update Date and Time
The best way to update the date and time on an iPhone is to set it automatically which means it will adjust the date and time automatically based on the time zone you are in.
To do this go to settings and enter general; scroll down and select date and time. Tap the slider beside it to turn it on and now the date date and time will be updated automatically.
Check for Updates
Sometimes location sharing doesn’t happen on iPhone due to software glitches on both iOS systems and apps. So the first thing you should do is check if there are any iOS updates available on your iPhone.
To check for updates go to settings and scroll down to general; here select software update and you will see if any new update is available. Update your iPhone if any update is available and this will fix any software glitches on your iPhone.
Now check for any location sharing apps like Find My or Google Map needs updating. Go to the app store and at the bottom left click on the updates tab. Here you can see all the apps that need any update; select the apps and update them.
Bonus Tips And Tricks For Smooth Location Sharing On iPhone
Location sharing on iPhone is not that difficult but to make the operation more smooth, read these bonus tips and tricks below.
- Always share location only with your trusted contacts
- Stop sharing location when you no longer need it as it can be misused
. - Familiarize yourself with the Emergency SOS feature as you can use this during emergencies to share location on iPhone.
- If the person you wish to share your location with is nearby, you can rapidly transmit your location information using AirDrop.
- You can use the “Find My” app to check the location of your friends and family if they share their location with you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Location sharing having issues on iPhone can happen due to many reasons as you have read so far. But, if you still have some confusion with it, our FAQs below will help you with that.
These can happen due to a few different reasons; the first reason can be, the other person doesn’t have an active internet connection. Also, he/she might have mistakenly turned off location services on their phone which is preventing you from seeing their location.
Can i select duration for location sharing on google map?
Yes, google maps allow you to share location on iPhone and all other devices directly from the app. Additionally, you can also select the time duration for how long you want to share the location for. After that duration location sharing will stop automatically.
Find My enables you to find your iOS devices and track their location, you can also use it to share your location with your contacts. Additionally, you also see their location if they share it with you. But, to make sure Find My works perfectly, you will need to enter its settings and enable “Location Sharing” from there.
Final Words
Sharing Location on your iPhone can be quite important but if it suddenly stops it can be quite annoying.
Before checking anything else make sure you are signed into your iCloud account and you have a working internet connection.
Also, make sure to turn off location sharing as soon as your work is done and avoid sharing contacts with unknown people.