How to pause your location in the Find My app on iPhone

Sharing your location via Find My is a great way to keep your loved ones informed about your whereabouts, but what if you’re heading somewhere and don’t want to share your exact location for a while? Maybe you’re planning a surprise, taking a private trip, or simply want to avoid unnecessary questions from others; the reason can be anything.

Luckily, there are multiple ways to pause location on Find My, each with its pros and cons. This guide details four easy methods to pause your location on Find My. We will also look at how to fake your location on Find My for times when you may need to do it.

4 ways to pause your location on Find My

While stopping location sharing is one thing, you need a smarter approach if you want to pause your location discreetly without notifying anyone. Let’s look at a few ways to do it effectively.

1. Put your iPhone into Airplane Mode

Putting your iPhone into Airplane Mode is the easiest and quickest way to pause location sharing in the Find My app. When you turn on Airplane Mode, it disables all wireless connectivity, including internet connectivity on your iPhone, which is the primary requirement for the Find My app to update location.

As you would have guessed it, there’s a catch with this method: you won’t be able to make or receive calls, messages, or notifications on your iPhone when it’s in Airplane Mode. However, if it’s a one-off situation and you don’t mind going offline, here’s how to enable Airplane Mode on your iPhone:

1. Swipe down from the top-right corner to bring up the Control Center.
2. Here, tap the Airplane Mode button.
   
   
3. If you have customized the Control Center and removed the connectivity tile, tap the Connectivity icon in the top-left corner to access the connectivity options, including Airplane Mode.

Once done, Find My will show your last known location as your current location to the other person.

2. Turn off Location Services for Find My

The Find My app uses the location services on your iPhone to track your location. Thus, disabling the location services for the Find My app can prevent it from tracking and sharing your location. Here’s how you can turn off location services for the Find My app on iPhone:

1. Open the Settings app and head to Privacy & Security settings.
2. Here, tap Location Services.
3. Next, locate and tap the Find My app in the list.
4. Choose the Never option.
   
   

Until you enable the location services again, the Find My app will show the other person your last known location as your current location.

3. Stop sharing your location with a specific person in Find My App

If you no longer wish to share your location with a particular person, you can easily stop doing so on the Find My app, though the person might be notified that you have stopped sharing your location with them. Here’s how you can do this:

1. Open the Find My app and make sure you are on the People tab.
2. Here, select the person you want to stop sharing your location with.
3. Tap Stop Sharing My Location and confirm your action by tapping Stop Sharing Location on the confirmation prompt.
   
   

Once the purpose of stopping location sharing is fulfilled, you can again start sharing your location with them.

4. Disable Share My Location in the Find My app

When you stop sharing your location with someone on the Find My app, the person will be notified that you have stopped sharing, which can ruin your surprise visit to them. To avoid such situations, you can disable location sharing altogether in the Find My app. This is what you need to do:

1. Open the Find My app and tap on the Me tab in the bottom-right corner.
2. Here, toggle off Share My Location.

Once you’ve done this, the other person will not be able to track your location and will see a “Location Not Found” message.

How to fake your location in Find My

No matter which method you choose to pause your location in the Find My app on your iPhone, you must deal with the associated downside. Either the other person can see that you have paused or stopped location sharing, or you won’t be able to use your iPhone as usual due to the Airplane mode.

However, if you own another iPhone or even iPad, you can set it as the location source for the Find My app to fake your live location for times when you need to do so. This way, you can keep the secondary iPhone at home or any preferred location while you are on the move with your primary one, and the other person won’t even know it.

Here’s how you can change location sharing device in the Find My app:

1. Make sure both iPhones are signed in with the same Apple Account (formerly Apple ID).
2. Once done, open the Find My app and head to the Me tab.
3. Tap Use This iPhone as My Location.
   
   

Signing off…

Pausing your location on Find My can give you more privacy and control, but it has its benefits and drawbacks. While doing so prevents others from questioning you about your whereabouts, using Airplane Mode or disabling location could prevent calls, messages, or app updates. So, the best way, according to us, is switching the location source to another Apple device, which will keep your location visible but unchanged. 

Feel free to reach out to us via comments if you need further help.

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