Before you start
- Update your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch to iOS 8 or later.
- Update your Apple Watch to watchOS 3 or later.
- If it's not already on your device, download the Find My Friends app.
- Make sure that the web browser on your Mac or PC is up to date.
Set up Find My Friends
If your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch is using iOS 9 or later, Find My Friends is automatically installed. If your device is using a version of iOS 8, install the free Find My Friends app. When you sign in to iCloud on your device, you automatically sign in to Find My Friends with your Apple ID.
If you want to get Find My Friends notifications on your Apple Watch, go to the Apple Watch app on your iPhone. Then go to the My Watch tab, tap Notifications, scroll down, tap Find Friends, and tap to turn on Mirror iPhone alerts. If you're using watchOS 4 or later, you can also turn notifications on from your Apple Watch. Go to Settings > General > Location Services. Then turn on Share My Location.
You can also use Find My Friends on iCloud.com or with Family Sharing to share your location with your family.
Add a friend
To use Find My Friends, make sure your friends have Find My Friends on their device too. You can only add friends from Find My Friends on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch.
- Open Find My Friends.
- Tap Add.
- Choose a friend or enter their email address, then tap Send or Done to send the request.
After your friend agrees to share their location, you can see their location in a list or on a map in the Find My Friends app, or on iCloud.com.
If you want, you can choose which email address to use when sending requests to friends:
- On your iPhone or iPod touch, tap Me > Send As.
- On your iPad, tap List > Me > Info > Send As.
If you don't want to get friend requests:
- On your iPhone or iPod touch, tap Me > turn off Allow Friend Requests under Invitations.
- On your iPad, tap List > Me > turn off Allow Friend Requests under Invitations.
With the Find My Friends app on iCloud.com, you can only see your friends and their location or change settings for sharing your location. To add friends, you need to use an iOS device.
Hide your location
You can hide or stop sharing your location with your friends. Just follow these steps:
Open Find My Friends and tap Me. Then turn off Share My Location.
Tap Done. You'll see Not sharing location next to Me at the bottom of the screen.
Stop sharing your location
If you don't want your friends to see your location in Find My Friends, you can stop sharing from the app on your iOS device or on iCloud.com. You can still see the location of your friends, but your friends see Location Not Available when they try to locate you.
On your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch:
- Go to Settings > [your name].
- If you're using iOS 12, tap Share My Location. If you're using an earlier verion of iOS, tap iCloud > Share My Location.
- Turn off Share My Location.
On iCloud.com:
- Sign in to iCloud.com and open Find My Friends.
- Select Me.
- Deselect Share My Location.
Use Find My Friends on multiple devices
You can use Find My Friends on any iPhone, iPad, iPod touch, or Apple Watch that you own. However, only one iOS device can send your location to your followers. You can choose which one to use in Find My Friends:
- On your iPhone or iPod touch, tap Me, then tap a device under Share My Location From.
- On your iPad, tap List > Me > Info, then tap a device under Share My Location From.
This choice only appears when you're currently signed in to Find My Friends on multiple devices.
Send and accept location requests
Your friends can send you a request to follow your location. If you accept someone's request, that person can then see your location. If you want to see that person's location, you must invite them, and they must accept your invitation.
If you accept a request from a friend that you’re not following, a follow request is automatically sent to your friend.
Friends and followers limits
- You can follow up to 100 friends.
- Up to 100 friends can follow you.
Learn more
Your location is sent from your device only when someone requests to see it. Your location isn't transmitted on a regular interval. For more information, see the iCloud security and privacy overview.