How to Find Someone’s Location on iPhone

By Jen D., January 28, 2019

Wondering how to find someone’s location on an iPhone? Common reasons for wanting to track location include concern about the whereabouts of minor children, spouses, stolen phones, or that a significant other is being unfaithful. Maybe you just haven’t heard back from a loved one and are worried if they are okay.

Locating a friend, family member, child, spouse, boyfriend or girlfriend on an iPhone is easy if you follow our guide. Though there are are many different methods to discover where an iPhone user is, they depend on your level of access to an individual’s phone. Also, it is dependent on whether you’re an iPhone user yourself and if they want to share their location with you.

Even if they don’t want to share their whereabouts, the following tips will work if you legally own the phone. Legal ownership means you are the person who purchased the phone and that the phone was purchased through your paid cell contracted account. If so, the phone is your property, and you can monitor or control its settings (though you should check local laws in your area).

OPTION 1: Family Sharing

First, make sure their iPhone Location Services are switched to on.

Go into settings > Privacy > Location Services > Share My Location (On/Off).
Go to ‘Settings.’
Select ‘Your Name.’
Select the icon of a ‘cloud with white stick figures,’ labeled ‘Family Sharing.’
Select ‘Add Family Member,’ which will give you the option of inviting a family member via iMessage, in Person, or creating a Child Account.

Remember, Family Sharing is not for everyone. You will need to decide if you want to share purchases, iCloud Storage, and Apple Music in addition to Location Sharing.

OPTION 2: Find Friends

First, make sure their iPhone Location Services are switched to on.

Go into settings > Privacy > Location Services > Share My Location (On/Off).
Go to your iPhone’s search feature and type ‘Find Friends.’ ‘Find Friends’ is pre-installed on all devices with iOS 9 or later.
If ‘Find Friends’ does not show up, you will need to download the free app. To do so, go to the ‘App Store’ and begin the download. As long as you have iOS 8 or later, the app is downloadable.
Once you have access to the ‘Find Friends’ app, you can open it and see any friends who have already shared their location with you.
If their location does not show, you can ask them to share through the app.
To ask someone to share their location with you, go to the upper right-hand side of the screen and select ‘Add.’
Type the name of the contact (their name and number need to already be in your phone). Otherwise, you can select the ‘+’ button and see a list of all your contacts.
If a contact does not have an iPhone, you’ll be alerted.
If they are an iPhone user, select ‘Send.’
You will be given the options of sharing your location for one hour, until the end of the day, or indefinitely.

To alter what you share on the app, go to the ‘Me’ icon at the bottom left of the page. You can change your location share status there, as well as the email you send invites from, and whether you want to allow friend requests or not. The purpose of sharing your location is to encourage the other person to share theirs as well.

OPTION 3: Contacts

If you want them to share their location with you, but do not want to share yours in return, you’ll need to use ‘Contacts.’ This means you will need access to their iPhone.

First, make sure their iPhone Location Services are switched to on.

Go into settings> Privacy> Location Services> Share My Location (On/ Off).

Go to ‘Contacts.’
Type YOUR NAME (as they will be sharing with YOU and you are on THEIR phone).
Scroll down to the bottom of your contact information and select ‘Share My Location.’
Decide if you want this location information shared for an hour, a day, or indefinitely.

OPTION 4: Find My iPhone

If you are legally allowed access to someone’s iCloud, in the case of a parent/child relationship, log into their iCloud account via their password or a stored password on a shared computer (if you are an Apple user, you can check past password logins through ‘Keychain’).

Select ‘Find iPhone.’
Select which device you want to search, from the top center of the screen.
View the map which should show location, streets nearby, etc.
Use the ‘+ or -‘ options to zoom in or out from the plan.
If the device doesn’t show the location, you’ll need to turn on ‘Find my iPhone’ in their phone’s settings.

If you believe your phone has been stolen, this is the first option you will want to use, as it allows you to lock your phone or send a message to the device. If you have misplaced your iPhone or Apple device, log into YOUR iCloud account to track your device(s).

Did you find the person you want to locate? If not, don’t be tricked by online scams. If a user hasn’t allowed Apple to show their location, then 3rd party sites promising to find their Apple product location won’t be helpful. However, if you still want more information about an individual, try a search on Social Catfish.

While this won’t automatically tell you exactly where a user is in each moment, it will give you access to their digital footprint all across the web. This can show you usernames, email, social media, and more. You can gain information about their whereabouts through their Instagram or other online accounts.