What Does 'No Location Found' Mean On iPhone?

Whether you're enjoying a taste of the future with the iPhone 15 or getting the most out of an iPhone you've had for several years, you're probably familiar with the "Find My" app. What started as a quick way to locate a lost or stolen iPhone has become a way to keep track of the live location of friends and family, giving users a way to stay connected and safe. When your family members or friends share their location with you, you can see where they are using the Find My app's map in real time and even figure out how quickly they're traveling to a meet-up spot. 

However, as with all technology, sometimes Find My doesn't work as it should. When that happens, one of the messages you might see is "no location found." Getting this message can be a bit disconcerting, especially if a friend or family member has shared their location with you indefinitely, and suddenly they disappear from the map. The good news is there's usually no reason to worry. When you see the no location found error, it's usually because of a network issue like the phone being offline or an unstable internet connection.

If you're staring at your "Find My" app and see the words "no location found," it's because your friend or family member's iPhone has failed to find or share its location with your device. There are several reasons this could happen, including their device being turned off or in airplane mode, them being offline, or their battery dying. When any of these things happen, their iPhone won't be able to share its location because it can't connect to the internet. 

A weak or unstable internet connection can also cause problems by preventing a phone from sending a GPS signal to the app. An iPhone with a dying battery that still has little juice often won't be able to send its GPS location to the Find My app either. If the person you're trying to track has turned off location services or stopped sharing their exact location on their phone, that'll also prevent them from sharing their location with you.

Other times, a technical glitch or bug might be causing the No location found message to appear. These glitches can interfere with the device's GPS signal or signing into the app. Another common issue is having the wrong time and date set on the phone. Since the Find My app uses your friend's iPhone's date and time to sync, if it's incorrect, the app might struggle to determine and share their location.

While getting the no location found messages can be frustrating, there are a few things you can do to fix the problem. The first thing you should do is check Apple's System Status page to make sure everything is up and running. If it is, the next thing you should do is ask your friend or family member to make sure they haven't inadvertently disabled location services. They can do this by checking under Privacy and Security in their iPhone's settings. If everything looks good there and location services is activated, it's time for them to check to make sure their device is connected to a stable WiFi or cellular network.

If location services is enabled and there's no problem with the network, ask them to make sure their iPhone has the correct time and date. If not, they can go to Settings > General > Date & Time to manually input the right information. If that doesn't solve the problem, a quick restart can often resolve this issue by cleaning minor software bugs that are interfering with location sharing. They should also confirm they've installed software updates available for iOS. When all else fails, resetting location and privacy settings to their default settings can often fix persistent issues. 

Follow these steps to reset location and privacy settings:

1. Go to Settings.
2. Scroll down and tap Transfer or Reset iPhone.
3. Tap Reset and then tap Reset Location & Privacy.
4. Enter your passcode.
5. Tap Reset Settings

Once your friend or family member has reset the location and privacy settings on their iPhone, they'll have to reenable location services to start sharing their location with you again.