With Family Sharing, you can share your location with family members in the Find My app or the Messages app. You can also help family members locate their missing device.
How it works
Share your location with a family member
Receive notifications about a family member’s location
Choose which device to share your location from
Help find a missing device
Share your location in Messages or Maps
How it works
The family organiser sets up location sharing in Family Sharing settings. After location sharing has been turned on, the organiser's location will be shared automatically with everyone in the family group and any new family members who are added later. Then each family member can choose whether or not to share their location. When you agree to share, your family members will see your location in the Find My app and Messages. In watchOS 6 or later, they will also see your location in the Find People app.
With location sharing enabled, if your device is lost or stolen, you can ask a family member to use the Find My app to help you locate it.
Location sharing isn’t supported in South Korea and may be unavailable in other regions due to local laws.
You can share your location in Settings or the Find My app, and you can stop sharing your location at any time.
If you've already set up a Family Sharing group
In iOS 16 or iPadOS 16 or later:
On your iPhone or iPad, go to Settings.
Tap Family.
Tap Location Sharing.
Under Share Your Location With, tap to choose which family members to share your location with.
In iOS 15 or iPadOS 15 or earlier:
On your iPhone or iPad, go to Settings.
Tap your name, then tap Family Sharing.
Tap Location Sharing.
Tap Share My Location.
If you haven't set up Family Sharing yet
On your iPhone, iPad or Mac, open the Find My app.
Tap or click the People tab.
Select a family member's name, then select it again to see the menu.
Tap or click Share My Location.
Receive notifications about a family member's location
If you want to know when a friend or family member has arrived at or left a location, or if they aren't at a particular place during a specific time window, you can set up recurring notifications.
Set up recurring location-based notifications
Choose which device to share your location from
You can share your location from a different device. For example, if you're sharing your location from an iPad device, then you can choose to share your location from your iPhone instead.
On the iPhone or iPad that you want to share your location from, open the Settings app.
Tap your name.
Tap Find My.
Tap Use this [device] as My Location.
Help find a missing device
If you've turned on Find My for your device and you're sharing your location with your Family Sharing group, your family can help you locate your device if it goes missing. Family members can:
See the location and online or offline status of your device.
Play a sound on your missing device to help you find it.
Put your device in Lost Mode if it has already had a passcode set up on it.
Remotely erase a device.
Find out more about how to find a lost Apple device or AirTag with the Find My app
If you're not sharing your location, family members won't be able to access location information about your device. However, family members can still help you. They can check your missing device's online or offline status, play a sound on the device, put the device in Lost Mode or erase the device remotely.
Share your location in Messages or Maps
In addition to the Find My app, in iOS 17 or iPadOS 17 or later you can share a one-time snapshot of your location in Messages or Maps. You can also share your ETA in the Maps app, or in the Messages app you can use Check In to let a friend or family member follow your turn-by-turn directions during a trip.
Find out how to share your location in Messages or Maps
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