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How to fix iPhone find my friends location not available
How to fix iPhone find my friends location not available
Are you unable to find your friend's location on your iPhone? In this guide, you learn about several simple solutions to fix this error and help you find your friends once more.
Hi,
My wife and son can see my iPhone on "Find My Friends" and also my location, but I cannot see them at all. It says that "Location is not available" for both. I have tried to reinstall the app, restarted in DFU mode, and even done a clean wipe of my device, but the situation is still the same. Why is this happening?
Matt.
Socialization is an important part of daily life for all living beings. It is great to reach out and be available to your friends and family. The iPhone has a nifty app called “Find My Friends” which allows you to find out where your friends are and what activities they are undertaking. It allows you to join them and socialize, ending up having a great time.
So what happens when you get the notification, “Find My Friends Location Not available”? If you wanted to meet up over a weekend, you may end up feeling lost and alone.
Here are a few ways in which you can remedy the situation, allowing you to link up and find your friends on your iPhone. Then you can go out and have loads of fun once more.
Part 1: Possible reasons for find my friends location not available
The Find My Friends app may have issues related to the version you are using among many other reasons. Here are some of the most common reasons why you cannot locate your friends when using the app:
Forcing the app to close – When using iOS 7 or later, force closing the Find My Friends app can lead to failure to recognize the Geofencing location of your friends. The Geofence alerts will not be sent by your phone, and you will not be able to see your friends. You should only force the app to close if it becomes unresponsive. Restarting the app may fix the issue.
Incorrect device date – if your friends have the wrong date on their devices, they will not be visible.
No connection – if your friend is not connected to a Wi-Fi or mobile data service, they will be unavailable on Find My Friends.
Hidden Location – if your friend has hidden their location, they will be unavailable on the app. This also happens when they turn off “Share my location”.
Unsupported location – the friend you are trying to find may be located in a geographical location that is not supported by Apple.
The phone is signed out – if your friends have signed out of Find My Friends, then their location cannot be seen.
Large location circle – when your friend is indoors and using an unknown Wi-Fi base station, the circle may be too large and give erroneous information.
NOTE – Find My Friends location is only available for about 2 hours. The friend may have logged off and the location was removed from iCloud.
Part 2: How to fix iPhone find my friends not available in one click
When you cannot find the location of your friend on “Find My Friend” you could be having a critical error with your iOS version. The only way to fix this problem with one click is to use Dr. Fone – iOS System Repair.
Dr. Fone – iOS System Repair is a great tool that makes it very easy for you to fix a number of iOS issues such as White Screen, Apple Logo Stuck, Black Screen, Recovery Mode, DFU Mode, and others.
This wonderful software from Wondershare does not lead to data loss and is completely safe.
NOTE: When you use Dr. Fone – iOS System repair, your device will be updated to the latest iOS version. Should you be having a jailbroken device, it will be updated to the non-jail broken state. Any unlocked iOS device will be locked once more.
There are two modes for fixing the iOS system, standard and advanced. The advanced mode will erase all data on the device.
A step-by-step guide to fix Find My Friends Location not Available using Dr. Fone – iOS System repair.
Method 1 – Use Standard Mode
Step 1) Launch Dr. Fone
After downloading Dr. Fone on your computer, launch the software and then go to the “System Repair” Module on the main window.
Now connect your iPhone to the computer using the original lightning cable that came with the device. Dr. Fone will now detect your iPhone and you will be presented with a choice of using the Standard Mode or Advanced Mode.
As mentioned above, the Standard Mode will fix a lot of issues without erasing your existing data. The advanced mode will fix deeper issues but will erase all your data. Use the Standard Mode in this case.
Dr. Fone – iOS System Recovery automatically detects your iPhone models and available iOS system versions. Now choose one of the displayed iOS versions and then hit “Start” to proceed.
Give your iPhone a while to complete downloading the iOS firmware. This is a big file and will take some time to be complete. Do not disconnect the device during this process as it could lead to data corruption.
Alternatively, you may use the browser to download the iOS firmware by clicking on the “Download” button; once downloaded, click on “Select” to restore the firmware.
The tool will now verify the iOS firmware once the download is complete.
Step 3) Fix your iOS System
Once the iOS firmware has been verified, click on “Fix Now” to start repairing the iPhone system.
When the process is complete, reboot the iPhone and your Find My Friends app will work as usual once more.
Method 2 – Use Advanced Mode
In case the standard mode does not fix the “Find My Friend Location not Available” error, you can use the advanced mode to fix your iPhone to a deeper level. Since the advanced mode will erase all data on your device, make sure you create a backup of your iPhone before you start.
Step 1) Go to Advanced Mode
Go to the Dr. Fone home screen, click on “System repair” once more, and this time select the Advanced Mode.
The tool will detect information about your iPhone, just as it did in the Standard Mode. Now choose the iOS firmware that you from the list and then click on “Start” to begin the download process. Just like you did in the Standard Mode, you may choose to download through the browser by clicking on “Download", followed by “Select” once it has been downloaded to restore it on your device.
Step 2) Fix your iPhone
The tool will verify the download and you may click on “Fix Now” and let the advanced Mode begin fixing your iPhone.
Wait for the process to be complete, reboot the iPhone and you will have fixed the issue of your Friend location not being available on Find My Friends app.
Part 3: More tips to make “find my friends location” available
There are other simple steps that you can use to repair the Find My Friends Location not Available error. The issue may be a bad connection or other minor error that can be fixed without having to repair or update your iOS system.
Fix 1. Check if Find My Friends is Supported in Region/Country
Sometimes the error comes along because the device that you are searching for is in a region or country that is not supported by apple. You can easily ascertain the region or country by going to the apple support pages for countries and regions.
Open your browser on your Mac or iPhone, and then go to the following page:
Here you will be presented with a list of countries and regions supported by Apple.
Fix 2. Quit and enable GPS or Location Services again
In order for Find My Friends to function properly, it has to access your GPS and location services properly. You must ensure that you have given proper permission to the app to use your location.
How to give permission for apps to use your location
Every time you use an app, such as Find My Friends, for the first time, it will ask for access to your location services.
You have three options to choose from:
“Allow” this will allow the app to use your location services when necessary.
“Don’t Allow” – this will prevent access to your location services
“Ask Next Time” – this will require the app to ask every time it wants to access your location services. This option allows you to choose from “Always When Using App”, “Allow Once” or “Don’t Allow”.
The Wi-Fi network that you are using or mobile GPS signal is the one that will set the location of your device.
Turning GPS or Location services off and on once again
Navigate to “Settings > Privacy > Location Services
Toggle the Location Service to the “OFF” position.
This will turn off your GPS or Location Services.
Reboot your iPhone and go back to Location services and switch it on once more.
Scroll down till you find the “Find My Friends” app.
Tap the App and then select the option that you desire as shown above.
Now the Find My Friends app should be able to show you the location of the device you are looking for.
Fix 3. Adjust iPhone Date and Time
The Find My Friends app can malfunction if the date on your iPhone is wrong. Normally, people use automatic Date & Tine settings to get them from your carrier. However, there are times when the device fails to take the correct time from the carrier and does not adjust for daylight saving time. Here is what to do:
Make sure that you have the latest iOS version on your device
Go to “Settings > general > Date & Time”. Here you can toggle “Set Automatic” to the “ON” position if it was off. The device should tell you if there is an available time zone update.
Now allow the device to show the current location to determine what the correct time zone is.
Navigate to “Settings > Privacy > Location services > System Services”. Now select “Setting Time Zone”.
To see if you are now using the correct time zone, go to “Settings > General > Date & Time > Time Zone.
At this time, your iPhone should automatically set the date and time correctly.
In case it still shows the wrong date and time, you can manually adjust these settings. This usually occurs in countries where daylight saving time is adjusted by the government during different seasons and times of the year.
Navigate to “Settings > General > Date & Time.
Toggle the “Set Automatically” option to the “OFF” position.
Now manually change the date and time accordingly.
You may also change the time by selecting the city in which you are located.
Fix 4. Check the internet
The Find My Friends app requires an internet connection in order to find devices on your iPhone. If the connection is not steady, then the app will list your friends as unavailable. Here is how you check your Internet connection on your iPhone.
When using Wi-Fi
Navigate to “Settings > Wi-Fi”. You will see a list of Wi-Fi networks available on your device. Select one and wait for the Wi-Fi icon to appear at the top of your iPhone. The number of bars will tell you how strong your Internet is.
You may also tap the network name to enter the finer details and check on the strength of the network.
When using Mobile Data
Make sure that your SIM card is activated and unlocked.
Go to “Settings > Cellular”.
Turn on Cellular Data for the SIM card and wait for the Cellular Data icon to appear. Once again, you can easily tell the strength of the Cellular data by looking at how many bars are shown.
Fix 5. Enable Share My Location
Find My Friends requires you to enable Share My Location so your device can be visible and you can see other peoples’ devices. Here is how you ensure that Share My Location is enabled on your iPhone.
Navigate to the “Find My Friends” app and then select the “People” tab.
Now choose “Share My Location” or “Start Sharing Location” options.
Now proceed and enter the name or phone number of the friend that you want to share your location with.
Finally, select "Send".
At this point, you can choose whether to “Share Indefinitely”, “Until End of Day”, or “One Hour”.
Now choose “OK”.
Once you have shared your location with someone, they will get an option to share their location with you, so the app can work both ways.
If you want, you can add names of places where you frequently visit.
Go to Find My App and then choose “Me”.
Navigate down and choose the “Edit Location Name” option.
Now choose from Home, School, Gym, Work or None.
You may also enter a name for the location, such as (Your Name Eating Den), and then choose “Done”.
Fix 6. Restart the iPhone
Sometimes, restarting a mobile device, such as the iPhone, will reload apps in the proper working mode.
Simply follow the normal process to restart your iPhone.
However, if your iPhone has stopped responding, you have to force restart it.
The method for force restarting an iPhone will depend on the version that you are using. Here is a step-by-step guide on how you should go about it.
Force restart an iPhone with Face ID (iPhone 8 or iPhone 8 Plus)
Briefly press and release the “Volume Up” button.
Briefly press and release the “Volume Down” button.
Now Press and hold the side button till the device goes off and the Apple logo reappears.
Release the side button when the Apple logo is visible.
Force restart an iPhone 7 or iPhone 7 Plus
Long Press both the “Sleep/Wake” button and the “Volume Down” button at the same time.
Wait for the Apple logo to reappear before releasing them.
Force restart an iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, or iPhone SE
Long press the "Sleep/Wake" button and the "Home" button at the same time.
Release the two buttons once the Apple logo reappears.
Fix 7. Check That Your Friend Has Signed into Find My Friends
There is only one way to check if your friends have signed in to Find My Friends.
Simply go to the “People” tab on the app, and you will find a list of people who have signed in and can be found using Find My Friends.
Fix 8. Quit Find My Friends app and then open it again
Most apps will work properly when you switch them off and on again. Although you may close the app from the screen, it may still be working in the background.
In order to be sure that you have switched off the app, use the multitasking feature to do this quickly
Double click on the “Home” button so you can see a list of apps. Now swipe your finger across the screen till you find the Find My Friends App. Now swipe the app’s preview screen until it disappears. This way, you now know that the app is off and not running in the background.
Now you may click on the Find My Apps icon once more to restart it.
In conclusion.
Find My Friends is a great app to use when you want to keep tabs on your friends and family. You can easily tell where they are, send then notices and even organize to meet for a while. When the app suddenly stops operating normally, use the tools and tips mentioned in this article and regain full use of this wonderful app. Dr. Fone will help you fix the “My Friends Location not Available” error and other errors on your iOS device. With this tool, you no longer have to worry about iPhone apps failing to work as they should.
