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iPhone and iPadFix Find My Friends Location Not Available

How to Fix "Find My Friends Location Not Available" on iPhone

By Achilles Hill | Last Updated

Are you receiving “location not available” in the Find My Friends app on your iPhone? If you get such prompt, it is impossible to track your friend’s location. Here, you can learn the common causes and the solutions to fix find my friends location not available on iPhone.

fix find my friends location not available on iphone

Part 1: Why Find My Friends Location Not Available?

Before we discuss the fixes, let’s look at why this happens:

  • Region Restrictions: The Find My Friends feature is not available in your friend’s region or country.
  • Poor Internet Connection: A weak or unstable internet connection on both iPhones can hinder location sharing.
  • Location Services Disabled: If location services are turned off for the Find My Friends app, it won’t be able to access your location.
  • Device Issues: Temporary glitches or bugs within the iPhone can affect the app's functionality.
  • Friend’s Settings: If your friend has turned off location sharing or their device is turned off, you may see this message.
  • Outdated iOS: Running an outdated version of iOS can lead to compatibility issues with the Find My Friends app.

Possible Fixes for Find My Friends Location Not Available

Now you know the reasons why this location not available issue happens, let's explorer how to fix the issue.

Fix 1: Reboot your iPhone

Restarting your iPhone is a great way to refresh your device and make Find My Friends locations work properly again.

Step 1: For iPhone X and later, press and hold the Power button and either volume button until a slider appears on the screen. For older iPhone models, press and hold the Power button until the slider appears.

Step 2: Swipe on the slider to turn off your iPhone.

Step 3: Just wait for a while and then turn on your iPhone to see if the problem has been solved.

Fix 2: Change the date & time on iPhone

As mentioned above, if the date & time on your friend's device is incorrect, Find My Friends will not work. So you can ask your friends to change the date and time on their iPhone.

Go to Settings > General > Date & Time, check the Time Zone and make corrections. It is also recommended to turn on the Set Automatically option. In this way, when connected to a Wi-Fi network, iPhone will automatically update the date and time and "Find My Friends" will start working properly again.

change date and time

Fix 3: Correct your iPhone region

If the region of your iPhone is not correct, you may face location not available issue on your iPhone. This may mess up the location module of your iPhone and correcting the region of your iPhone may solve the problem.

Step 1: Move to iPhone's Settings > General > Language & Region, set the correct Region and Language on your iPhone.

correct language and region

Step 2: Restart your iPhone, check if Find My Friends location are available now. If not, check if using Apple ID to share your or your contact's location can fix the problem.

Fix 4: Make sure both iPhones are connected to stable network

Your iPhone may fail to find friends on mobile data if the feature is not turned on. It is the same to your friend's iPhone. Thus, enabling Wi-Fi & cellular data for Find Friends may clear the error.

Note: In iOS13 and iPadOS13 in 2019, both Find My iPhone and Find My Friends have been merged into the Find My app.

Simply move to Settings > Cellular > Find My, click WLAN & Cellular Data to enable it.

turn on wlan and cellular data

Fix 5: Disable and enable the Share My Location

This should be done on your friend's iPhone. Move to iPhone's Settings > Apple ID > Share My Location, click the Share My Location toggle button once to disable it. After disabling it, wait a few seconds, then click it again to enable it. Once you're done, close the Settings page and go to the Find My or iMessages app to check the location.

turn on or off share my location

Fix 6: Enable Location Service on iPhone

Enabling the Location Services settings of the iPhone may fix find my friends location not available issue.

Step 1: Move to iPhone's settings > Privacy >Location Services, and enable Location Services.

enable location services

Step 2: Then tap on System Services and enable Frequent Locations. You may need to enter your Apple credentials.

Fix 7: Reset Location & Privacy Settings

You can reset all location settings to fix this location not available issues. Just go to tap Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Reset > Reset Location & Privacy. Then it will ask you to enter the screen passcode to reset the location settings on iPhone.

Fix 8: Fix location not available issue with iSunshare iOS Repair Genius

If the location not available issue is caused by the system glitch or bugs, you can easily fix it with iSunshare iOS Repair Genius. This tool can easily repair more than 50 common problems that occur on your iOS devices, including Find My Friends location not available.

Preparation:

  • 1. Download and install the software on your computer.
  • 2. Make sure your iPhone is connected to PC with USB cable.
  • 3. iTunes should be installed on the computer.

free download free download

Step 1: Open the software and choose System Repair > Standard Mode option.

choose standard mode

Step 2: Hit the Start button to move forward.

click start button

Step 3: Hit the Next button to load the iPhone details.

connect your iphone with usb

Step 4: Minutes later, your iPhone information is displayed. Click the Download button to get the firmware software package for system update.

click select and download

Step 5: Finally, the firmware is downloaded and verified. You can click the Repair button to get the system glitch fixed.

click repair button

Part 3: FAQs on iPhone Location on Find My App

1. It shows no location found on Find My App, what to do?

This issue can be caused by many reasons. You can follow the above solutions to get Find My iPhone app back to normal to show the location for other’s iPhone.

2. Why can’t I see my friend’s location on iPhone?

If your friend has disabled the location sharing service or location services in his/her iPhone, you are unable to see your friend’s location. Or if your friend experiences the weak network connection, the location is unable to be seen by others.

3. iPhone Find My app not working, what to do?

The first thing you should do is to force close the Find My app and then open it again. Or you can directly restart the iPhone. If this does not work, uninstall and re-install it on your iPhone. And you can use iSunshare iOS Repair Genius to fix the iOS system issues.

Conclusions:

Still having trouble with the Find My Friends location issue? You can try the mentioned methods to fix location not available issue on Find My Friends location. If this guide has helped you, feel free to share it with other who are in the location trouble.