If you need to obtain the whereabouts of a friend or family member, turn to your Apple device and the Find My app, which allow you to track down a person’s location, or share your location with them, from your iPhone, iPad, Mac, or Apple Watch. It is even helpful in tracking down a lost device that is linked to your Apple ID or Family Sharing account.
For the latest features of the Find My app, make sure you’re running iOS 15/iPadOS 15 or higher on your iPhone or iPad and watchOS 8 or higher on your Apple Watch. To update your device, go to Settings > General > Software Update. The app will tell you that your OS is up to date or prompt you to download and install the latest update. To update your Apple Watch, open the Watch app on your iPhone and go to General > Software Update.
Turn on Tracking
Before you start tracking, ensure that the feature has been enabled. From your iPhone (or iPad) go to Settings > [Your name] > Find My > Find My iPhone/iPad. Make sure that Find My iPhone/iPad is turned on. To allow your device to be located when it’s offline, turn on the switch for Find My Network. And to make sure the device can be tracked even if the battery charge is almost depleted, enable the switch for Send Last Location.
To allow tracking of your Apple Watch, open the Settings app on your watch and go to [Your name] > Apple Watch > Find My Watch. Turn on the switches for Find My Watch and Find My Network if they’re not already enabled.
Locate Family and Friends
By default, you may already be able to see the locations of any members of your Apple Family. Open the Find My app and tap People. The names of anyone sharing their location with you will then appear on a map. You can then tap a person’s name to interact with them.
Tap Contact to call, email, or text them. Tap Directions to launch Apple Maps with step-by-step directions to their location. Tap the Add link under Notifications to receive a notification when that person arrives at or leaves a certain location.
If the location of an Apple family member is not visible, you may have to ask them to enable sharing with you. To do that on their iPhone, have the family member go to Settings > Privacy > Location Services > Share My Location. They can then tap your name under the Family section of the Find My screen, then tap Share My Location. You can be sure it worked when you receive a notification on your iPhone that they are now sharing their location.
Share Your Location
You can likewise share your own location with members of your Apple Family and with specific people. To set this up, go to Settings > Privacy > Location Services. Turn on the switch for Location Services, then tap Share My Location. Turn on the switch for Share My Location.
Now, any members of your Apple Family can see your location. To confirm that you’re sharing your location with a specific family member, tap that person’s name. If the option says Stop Sharing My Location, then your location is currently being shared.
Share Location With Contacts
To share your location with a specific person outside of your Apple Family, open the Find My app on your iPhone and open the People tab. Tap the Share My Location link and choose the name of a contact with whom you want to share your location or manually enter that person’s phone number or email address.
Tap Send, then choose whether you want to share your location with that person for one hour, until the end of the day, or indefinitely. The person on the other end will then be asked to share their location with you. Just like you, they will have the option to contact you directly, get directions to your location, and get notifications about your specific location.
Stop Sharing Location
To stop sharing your location, open the Me tab and turn off Share My Location (this doesn’t disable all location services). If you want to stop sharing your location with an individual person, open the People tab and select the contact. You can then choose Stop Sharing My Location to hide yourself from them, or choose Remove Friend to delete them completely.
Find a Lost Apple Device
The Find My app can also track down a missing Apple device—iPhone, iPad, MacBook, Apple Watch, AirPods, or any AirTag-equipped item. Tap the Devices tab inside the app to view a list of Apple devices registered to your Apple ID or Apple Family.
Tap the entry for the missing device to view it on the map. From there, you can make it play a sound, get turn-by-turn directions, add a message to the lost device, lock the device down, or completely erase all data on it. For more detailed directions, check out our full guide.
