How to set up Find My Friends and track an iPhone

Summary

Everyone’s first concern is safety, and you can make sure someone is constantly aware of your whereabouts using Apple’s Find My app. You can locate your friends and family with the Find My app, and vice versa. This is a useful tool whether you’re out with pals at bars or want to find out how far away your mom really is when she claims she’ll be there in “just five minutes.” Remember that is order for you to monitor someone, they must both have iPhones and consent to sharing their whereabouts with you.

The Find My Friends and Find My iPhone applications were merged into the Find My function, which is now known as Find My, in 2019 with the release of iOS 13. Here’s how to follow an iPhone once it’s been set up, as well as how to set up tracking for a friend or member of your family.

set up Find My Friends and track an iPhone

How to share your iPhone location with a friend

Sharing the location of your iPhone with friends or family is simple. You have the option to share your location for an hour, for as long as you want it to be shared, or until the end of the day on which you put it up. Remember that until you turn off location sharing or don’t have cellular connectivity, your buddy will be able to see your precise position for the duration you choose.

Use the instructions below to set up discover my friends and begin sharing your location with pals:

Ensure that each of you has an iPhone.
Launch the Find My app.It has a green circle with a blue dot inside of it on a gray backdrop.
In the lower left corner, tap the People tab.
Press the “+” button.
Next, choose “Share My Location.”
To share your location with a contact, look them up.Those carrying iPhones will show up as blue. This functionality won’t function if the contact name is gray, which indicates they don’t own an iPhone.
If you would want to share your location with other contacts, add them.
After you’ve chosen every person you want to share your location with, press the “Send” button in the upper right corner.
choose “Share for One Hour” , “Share Until End of Day” or even “Share Indefinitely”

The individuals page in the Find My app will list the individuals you have selected to get your location updates. Unless you are exchanging location, “Can see your location” will appear under their name. If both users have an iPhone 15 model, precision finding is also enabled for location sharing. This will function similarly to Precision Finding for Airtags, allowing you to view your friend’s position and get guidance to them.

How to track a friend’s iPhone

A buddy must disclose their location with you as previously said in order for you to monitor their iPhone. You will be able to view all of their Apple devices linked to their Apple ID in the Devices page of the Find My app if they are sharing their location with you and are also a member of your Family Sharing group, which you can learn more about in our separate feature.

You may monitor your friend’s iPhone and see where they are by following the instructions in the section above to start sharing their position with you. As an alternative, you may begin sharing your location with them as before, then choose “Ask to Follow Location” by tapping on their name in the People tab. Before you can monitor their iPhone, they must accept the notice that you have sent them.

You may see your friend’s location on the People page of the Find My app after your request has been approved and their location has been provided. It will tell you the town and nation they are in, along with how far away they are from you, under their name. If you touch on their name, you’ll get a map with the ability to receive instructions to their position, as well as a more accurate location to within around 50 meters, unless you two have an iPhone 15.

Additionally, you may see the shared location of a buddy via Messages. View Messages > To see someone’s location, open their chat window and tap on their name at the top. The map will show where they are.

How to use notifications on Find My

On an iPhone, users may also customize alerts inside the Find My app.

Apart from the Check In feature in iOS 17, you can set up your iPhone to send a notification to a friend when you leave or arrive home, or you can set up a notification for yourself to receive when a friend leaves work or arrives home, or even something more specific like passing a specific location while out for a walk.

The steps listed below may be used to set up notifications:

Launch the Find My app.

In the lower left corner, tap the People tab.

You may set up a notification for or about a buddy by tapping on them.

To see all of the choices below the map, swipe up on the information card.

Select “Add” from the Notifications menu.

Click or tap “Notify [contact]” or “Notify Me”.

When you pick Notify Me, you may choose [Contact] Arrives, [Contact] Leaves, or [Contact] Is Not At. You can also choose to get notifications Only Once or Every Time, and you can enter the location of your contact, yourself, or a new place.

The selections are somewhat different when you choose [Contact] Is Not At. You may then choose a time period and the days you wish to be alerted, but the location selections remain the same. One possible solution would be to configure a notice to notify you each time a buddy misses work throughout the workweek.

After selecting Notify [contact], you have the option to send alerts Only Once or Every Time, as well as to notify them of your arrival or departure, as well as your current location, their current location, or a new place. You can also specify how often you want the notifications to be sent.

After making your selections, you must hit the ‘Add’ button in the upper right corner. The person you have selected to get notifications from will receive an alert letting them know that you have done so when you set up a notification for yourself.

More advice and techniques with the Find My app

To help you get the most of the Find My app, there are a few more pointers and strategies that are worthwhile sharing.

Give up sharing where you are

By disabling the location option in the Find My app under the Me page, you may halt sharing your location at any time. When turned off, your location will not be visible to any of your friends with whom you are sharing it. All that will appear beneath your name on their People page is the phrase “No Location Found.” Your location will return after you toggle it back on.

Give up letting a buddy know where you are

If you decide to change your mind, you may permanently cease sharing your location with that particular buddy. You will no longer be visible in their People list in the Find My app, and in order to resume sharing your location, you will need to go through the first stages of this function.

Launch the Find My app. Select the People tab >. To stop sharing your location with someone, tap on them. The information card at the bottom of the screen may be swiped up. ‘Stop Sharing My Location’ > is tapped. ‘Stop Sharing Location’ should be confirmed.

Disable friend requests

You may disable friend requests to track your location if you would want to avoid receiving them.

Launch the Find My app. Select the Me tab > by tapping. Toggle off the ‘Allow Friend Requests’ under Notifications by swiping up on the information card at the bottom of the screen.

Make a contact a favorite

In the Find My app, you may mark certain friends as favorites.

A friend or contact that you add as a favorite will show up at the top of your list in the Find My app’s People page, making it easy for you to quickly find them—especially if you share your location with many friends. Navigate to the People tab of the Find My app, tap on the contact’s name, swipe up to reveal the information card at the bottom of the screen, and then choose “Add [contact] to Favorites.”

Modify a contact’s location name

You may change a location name so that it reads Home or Work, for example, in the Find My app, instead of having the town and country show up as the location beneath a contact’s name.

Launch the Find My app. Select the People tab >. To change a person’s location, tap on them. The information card at the bottom of the screen may be swiped up. Select Edit Location Name by tapping. Choose from Work, Home, School, Gym, or None at all. Make a Custom Label.

Change the name of a place to your own

You have the ability to change the location name that appears to your contacts, so they will see Home instead of the town and country. Launch the Find My app. Select the Me tab > by tapping. To edit the location name, swipe up on the information card and tap Edit.

Take out a pal

You may take a buddy off your list if you’d want to stop seeing their whereabouts. Launch the Find My app. Select the People tab >. To delete someone from your list, tap on them. Tap on Remove [contact] after swiping up on the information card at the bottom of the screen.

Why should I set up Find My on my iPhone?

With Find My, iPhone users may monitor friends and family in addition to finding their other Apple devices. While out at a bar, in a crowd, or even on a date, I strongly advise sharing your whereabouts with friends and family. One of Apple’s greatest security features to date, Find My will come in very handy if you need to locate your buddies or your AirPods.