Table of Contents
Personal Safety User Guide for Apple devices
- Welcome
- Personal safety at a glance
- What’s new in personal safety
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- Use Safety Check to stop sharing
- How Safety Check works
- Additional considerations when using Safety Check
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- Intro to review and take action
- Secure AirDrop and NameDrop
- Securely control whom you share content with from iPhone, iPad, and Apple Watch
- Securely control whom you share content with from Mac
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- Share or stop sharing your location
- Manage automatic ETA sharing in Maps
- Manage Location Services settings
- Stop and remove location metadata in Photos
- Stay safe with AirTag
- Safely manage how you forward content
- Reject unknown sign-in attempts
- Record suspicious activity
- Store your data securely in iCloud
- Delete suspicious content
- Manage Family Sharing settings
- Avoid fraudulent requests to share info
- Securely control your Home accessories
- How to erase all content and settings
- Restore the data you backed up
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- Intro to privacy and safety tools
- Update your Apple software
- Set a unique passcode or password
- Secure your iPhone or iPad with Face ID
- Secure your devices with Touch ID
- Delete unknown fingerprints from iPhone or iPad
- Add or delete fingerprints on your Mac
- Keep your Apple ID secure
- Use two-factor authentication
- Help prevent being locked out of your device
- Keep your device, app, and website passwords secure on iPhone and iPad
- Manage shared password and passkeys
- App privacy features in Apple products
- Harden your devices against mercenary spyware
- Manage safety settings in Messages
- Use Check In for Messages
- Block calls and messages
- Receive warnings about sensitive images and videos on iPhone, iPad, and Mac
- Keep your browsing history private
- Make an emergency call or text on iPhone or Apple Watch
- Obtain evidence related to another person’s account
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- See who has access to your iPhone or iPad
- How to stop sharing your iPhone or iPad content
- How to stop sharing your iPhone or iPad location
- Copyright
If you’re running iOS 15 or earlier, use this checklist to limit who can see your location or to stop sharing your location entirely. If you’re running iOS 16 or later, see How Safety Check on iPhone works to keep you safe.
If you aren’t running the latest version of iOS, iPadOS, or macOS and are concerned someone may have had physical access to your device, you can restore the device to factory settings. A factory restore erases all the information and settings on your device. This includes removing any apps that were installed without your knowledge and resetting your privacy settings so you aren’t sharing location with any people or apps. It also installs the latest version of the operating system. To restore it to factory settings, see How to erase all content and settings.
To stop sharing your location with all apps and services, for even a short period of time, go to Settings
> Privacy > Location Services and turn off location sharing. This stops all apps on your device, such as Maps, from using your location. No one is notified if you turn off Location Services, but some features may not work as expected without access to your location.Note: You can also temporarily turn off Find My iPhone in the same tab if you’re concerned someone may have access to your iCloud account. In the list of apps using Location Services, tap Find My, then select Never.
You can share your location with just certain apps. Go to Settings > Privacy > Location Services, then choose the apps you want to have use Location Services, from the list near the bottom of the screen.
Stop sharing your location with a particular person. In the Find My app
, tap People, select a person, then tap Stop Sharing My Location at the bottom of the screen.If you started—and later stopped—sharing your location in Find My, the person isn’t notified and can’t see you in their list of friends. If you reenable sharing, they get a notification that you’ve started sharing your location with them.
Stop sharing your estimated time of arrival (ETA) in Maps. In Maps, select Favorites to open a window containing all of the locations you’ve designated as a Favorite. Tap the Info button
, then scroll down to the Share ETA section and remove the person you’re sharing with.See whether any third-party apps are sharing your location with others. With Location Services turned on, review the list of apps you’ve installed on your device to see if any of them are sharing your location. Then select one and follow the relevant instructions to stop sharing.
You can track the location of your accessories to make sure that only the devices you configured for personal use are paired with your device.
Track using AirTags: Use AirTags to connect accessories to the Find My network and track their location. See the Apple Support article Find your lost Apple device or AirTag with Find My.
Find out if an unpaired device is moving with you: In Find My, tap Devices at the bottom of the screen. If you use an Android device, download the Tracker Detect app from the Google Play Store to help identify hidden AirTags or other accessories on the Find My network.
> Privacy > Location Services and turn off location sharing. This stops all apps on your device, such as Maps, from using your location. No one is notified if you turn off Location Services, but some features may not work as expected without access to your location.
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, See alsoPersonal safety at a glanceAdditional safety resources
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