Who Can See My Location on iPhone? A Complete Guide to Managing Your Privacy

You probably realize this already, but our iPhones are tracking us 24/7. Thanks to the wonders of GPS, we’ll always know where we are or, at the very least, where our phone is. The constant tracking of an iPhone can come in very useful e.g. if you’ve lost your phone, you’re reading a map, or you want to tell somebody where you are. Your location can always be intentionally shared, and we’ve got no problem with that. The issue is through unintentional sharing of your location.

While Apple has done a brilliant job designing a device where it is incredibly difficult to unintentionally share your location, it isn’t infallible. If you’re not careful, somebody who you don’t want to know your location could see it. This does beg the question ‘Who can see my location on the iPhone?’, and that’s what we’ll discuss throughout this blog.

Who Can See Your Location on iPhone?

For the most part, people can only see your location on the iPhone if you’ve given them permission to do so. This will either be by giving them actual access to your data through the Apple ‘Find My’ service and, in some cases, through family sharing or by switching on location permissions in certain apps.

This is a complete list of all the situations others may be able to see your location on the iPhone:

• If you’ve shared your location via the ‘Find My’ service. This is a service designed for helping you to find lost Apple devices. It is something you might have used before if you were unable to find your iPhone or iPad. While you’re normally the only person with access to this service, you can also let other people track you this way. This is something that you need to turn on yourself.
• If you’ve switched on location permissions in certain apps, your location can be tracked. This doesn’t necessarily mean that people will get a proper view of your location, just that it can happen. How this works will depend on the app, so always read through app features before switching on location permissions.
• If you use the ‘Family Sharing’ feature on your iPhone, then anybody in the family group can track your location.
• Whenever you call emergency services, they can see where you are. This is for safety reasons.

How to Check Who Can See Your Location on iPhone

There are three methods to check who can see your location on your iPhone. Make sure that you use all three methods, as all three give slightly different permissions.

Location Services

This is your app-based location sharing. Do the following:

1. Open up the ‘Settings’ app on your iPhone.
2. Select ‘Privacy & Security’
3. Select ‘Location Services’
4. Read through the list to see which apps have access to your location.

Find My

If you wish to check who can see your location using the ‘Find My’ app, do the following:

1. Open the ‘Find My’ app.
2. Select ‘People’ (it should be located at the bottom of the screen, but can change through app updates).
3. This will display a list of all the people who can see your location via ‘Find My’.

Family Sharing

Finally, you can check your family sharing settings:

1. Open up the ‘Settings’ app on your iPhone.
2. Select ‘Family’
3. Select ‘Location Sharing’
4. This will now display a list of all family members who can see your location.

How to Stop Sharing Your Location

While location sharing on your iPhone is important, it is also important to know how to stop sharing your location when you want to. Here is a guide.

Disable Location Access for Apps

1. Open up the ‘Settings’ app.
2. Select ‘Privacy & Security’
3. Select ‘Location Services’
4. Find apps with ‘Location’ switched on, select the ‘Off’ toggle.

Remember, some apps need location services switched on. If you disable it, the app may run incorrectly.

Disable Location Sharing in Find My (For Specific People)

1. Open up the ‘Find My’ app.
2. Select ‘People’
3. Tap the name of the person you wish to stop sharing your location with.
4. Scroll down the page, and select ‘Stop Sharing My Location’.

This person will not be able to see your location using the ‘Find My’ app until you re-add them to the location-sharing service.

Disable ‘Find My’ Completely

We do not recommend that you do this. ‘Find My’ is a useful app for when you’ve lost your Apple device, and if you disable it, tracking your device becomes a whole lot harder. Still, if you insist on switching it off, do the following:

1. Open the ‘Settings’ app.
2. Select your profile name. (normally your name)
3. Select ‘Find My’
4. Select ‘Find My’, which will have your device name next to it.
5. Select the ‘Turn Off’ button.
6. Repeat the process for all devices you wish to switch ‘Find My’ off on.

How Location Tracking Works on iPhone

The bulk of an iPhone’s ability to track you will be through GPS which, of course, is the most accurate way to establish a location, often to within a few feet. However, iOS will also utilize Wi-Fi and cellular data for some extra location tracking, especially if the GPS signal is not that strong. Wi-Fi and cellular data cannot give the same sort of accuracy that GPS does, though. In fact, those methods could be a good few miles off, especially if you’re in an area with limited cell phone coverage.

Apple does collect your location data for its own purposes. They claim it is to enhance the services they offer to their customers. Most of this data will be anonymized and automatically analyzed, so you don’t need to worry about an Apple employee seeing where you are. The average Apple employee cannot do that, and those who may have access to this data will almost certainly not use it for nefarious purposes.

Can Family Orbit Help Monitor Location?

While Apple services can help to track the location of a person, many parents are turning toward the Family Orbit service to monitor the location of their children. This is because Family Orbit is much, much easier to use. It is also difficult for a child to switch off.

Family Orbit allows parents to track their kids’ locations securely. With Family Orbit enabled, parents can always see where their child is on a map. They even get real-time updates. In addition to this, Family Orbit offers a geofencing system, so parents can receive alerts if their children leave a certain area.

Family Orbit respects your child’s privacy, while also ensuring they are kept safe.

How to Protect Your Location Privacy on iPhone

Every so often, it is important that you check over the location privacy settings on your iPhone. This way, you can make sure that nobody has gained access to your iPhone’s location without permission:

• Regularly check your location-sharing settings in the ‘Find My’ app, particularly when it comes to the people you share your location with. You may need to remove people every so often, especially if you no longer want that person to see where you are.
• Always switch off ‘location access’ on apps you don’t feel need access, or which you won’t be using that often.
• On some apps, you can switch off ‘Precise Location’, so while the app can still see your location, it won’t have pinpoint accuracy (i.e. to within a few feet).

Common Myths About Location Sharing on iPhone

Before we wrap up, we want to debunk a couple of myths people have about location sharing on the iPhone. We’re not surprised about these common misconceptions, honestly. So many people share them online without truly understanding how everything works.

• Firstly, many people claim that switching on Airplane Mode on your iPhone will completely hide your location. It doesn’t. It will hide certain parts of your location i.e. you cannot connect to cell phone towers, so your cell phone provider can’t really track where you are. However, it won’t stop GPS from working. You can still be tracked that way.
• Some people also claim that switching off the ‘Find My’ feature will disable all location tracking. It doesn’t. It disables the ‘Find My’ feature which, to be honest, is the bulk of location tracking on an iPhone. However, apps have very specific permissions. If you have switched on location in an app, your location will still be accessible via that app until you turn the feature off.

Conclusion

Location sharing on your iPhone is controlled via the phone’s settings. It is essential that you review your phone settings every once in a while to ensure that your iPhone is not sharing your location with people you really don’t want to see your location. Thankfully, this is easy to do.

If you’re a parent and wish to monitor your child’s location, we suggest considering Family Orbit. This service allows you to monitor your children’s location for safety reasons, without intruding on their lives too much. It also ensures that only the right people can see your child’s location because, of course, your child’s safety is a priority.