Why is Find My Friends not working and how to fix it

If you can't view other people's location on Find My Friends, then read this post carefully to troubleshoot the reason why your Find My Friends doesn't work and find a solution for it!

Find My Friends is an application developed by Apple that allows users to share real-time locations with family and friends, making it easier to locate each other and helping people stay connected. However, users may encounter some situations where Find My Friends doesn't work properly, such as Find My Friends showing a black screen, not being able to view someone's location, or Find My Friends location not available, etc.

Solving Find My Friends not working requires troubleshooting both your device and your friend's device together!

Take it easy, in order to restore Find My Friends to normal operation for purposes such as tracking family members or ensuring the safety of loved ones, this guide will help you find out Why is your Find My Friends not working on iPhone / iPad / iPod touch and provide you with the right solutions.

Tip: To protect your privacy and have a private space, you can change the GPS location of Find My on your iPhone with the help of iPhone Location Changer, so that your friends and various positioning software cannot track your true location.

Why is Find My Friends not working

According to user feedback, there are many cases where Find My Friends is not working. For example, the location of Find My Friends is wrong; it fails to update the latest location; it cannot be refreshed; it shows Find My Friends Location Not Available or No Location Found error, and so on.

Most Find My Friends not working means there is a problem with the location sharing function. So, the reason why Find My Friends not working appears is basically related to the location sharing of Find My or the location service of iPhone. Below are some common reasons:

• The device's internet connection is unavailable or unstable.
• Location Services on iPhone/ iPad is disabled.
• You or your friend turn off Find My Friends' Share My Location.
• The Date & Time settings on both devices are not correct.
• iPhone has compatibility issues or glitches.
• Not logging in to the right iCloud account and not adding iCloud account emails.

The cause of the Find My Friends not working issue could be on your iPhone, or your friend's iPhone, or both of your devices could be having these issues. So, to fix Find My Friends not working issue, you need to troubleshoot both your device and your friend's device and apply the solutions to both of them!

How to fix Find My Friends not working

Based on the above reasons, we have listed seven solutions for Find My Friends not working, especially for the Find My Friends location not available issue. You and your friends can try them one by one until the problem is solved.

Turn on Location Services

To fix problems such as Find My Friends location not available or Find My Friends location not updating, you must first check whether you have enabled the device's Location Services, which is a prerequisite for Find My Friends to get the accurate location of your iPhone.

Start the Settings app, then tap Privacy & Security, and then tap Location Services. If disabled, turn Location Services on by swiping the button to the right. Also, make sure you give Find My Friends permission to access your location. On the Location Services page you will see the apps that can use your location. Select Find My and check While Using the App or Always.

Enable Share My Location on Find My Friends

Although you have turned on Location Services, if you or your friends don't activate Share My Location, your locations can't be shared in Find My, resulting in the problem of Find My Friends not working. Open the Find My app and navigate to the Me tab, then turn on the Share My Location option. Or you can go to Settings > [your name] > Find My and turn on the switch for Share My Location.

Make sure the iPhone is online and the network is normal

If your iPhone is turned off or in Airplane mode, Find My Friends will not be able to locate your friend's position. In order for Find My Friends to run properly, your iPhone/iPad better keep enough power. Then, check whether your device accidentally turned Airplane mode on and cut off the network connection. Once you see an airplane icon appears on the top right corner of iPhone screen, go to Control Center to disable Airplane mode.

In addition, if your network is not smooth and your friend's location cannot be updated, then try another Wi-Fi connection or use cellular data.

Restart iPhone and Find My Friends app

Maybe your Find My Friends is delayed in refreshing due to system lag or glitches. Exit the Find My Friends app and reopen it. If the location is not showing on the map yet, restart your iPhone to fix Find My Friends not working issue.

Adjust the Date & Time of the device

Incorrect date and time settings can cause problems with your Find My Friends' shared location feature. You and your friend's devices should be set to the correct time and date so that both devices can be in sync in Find My Friends app. Open Settings app, tap General, then Date & Time and enable the Set Automatically option. Also, set the same time zone.

Re-add a friend's location sharing

If you can't find your friend's location in Find My or get a No Location Found error, you can remove the friends from the People tab and re-add their contacts, then use the Ask To Follow Location option to send them a location sharing request. Once they accept, you can see their location again.

Improve the contact information in Find My Friends

Here's another tested solution for Find My Friends not working. When you add friends to share your location with, you need to complete their iCloud email address in the contact information instead of just leaving a phone number.

Bonus tip: How to change iPhone location on Find My Friends

If you want to change the GPS location of Find My Friends or fake the location on Find My iPhone, you can use iPhone Location Changer to take a virtual location transfer journey on your iPhone without actually setting off. It can teleport your iPhone location to any place and share the spoofed location with your friends in Find My, so that they don't know where you really are and you can protect your privacy.

• Download and install iPhone Location Changer on your computer.
• Launch the software and connect your iPhone to computer with a USB cable.
• Select "Modify Location" mode to change the location on Find My Friends.
• In the pop-up window, enter wherever you want to move to.
• Click "Modify Location" to move your location to the virtual address to spoof your friends in Find My Friends.