10 Fixes to Find My Friends Not Working on iPhone in iOS 17

Problem: Find My Friends Not Working in iOS 17

Find My Friends helps us easily locate friends and family to make sure they are safe and sound. However, every application sometimes has problems, and so does Find My Friends.

Find My Friends location not available, Find My Friends no location found, Find My Friends not updating location, Find My Friends not sending request, Find My Friends showing wrong locations are the most common issues with the app. Meeting such a “Find My Friends not working” problem is frustrating. But fortunately, there are solutions to help you solve the problem.

Why Find My Friends Not Working?

Before we get to the solutions, let us first look at the possible causes of this problem. In this way, we will know how to solve the “Find My Friends not working” problem and how to prevent this kind of problem from happening again.

• Your friend isn’t signed in to Find My Friends.

• Your friend has not turned on Location Services.

• Your friend’s phone has been switched OFF.

• Your friend’s phone is not connected to cellular or Wi-Fi.

• Your friend’s phone date and time are not correct.

• Your friend has turned on Hide My Location in Find My Friends.

• Your friend is in a country or region where this feature is not available.

• There are some software glitches on your phone or your friend’s phone.

Find My Friends will work when all conditions are met. If there is a setting error, then you will meet the Find My Friends not working issue.

How to Fix Find My Friends Not Working on iPhone in iOS 17

In order to save time, before trying the following methods, you may call the person you want to track and see if he or she is turned off or has no Internet access. Find My friends will only work when both devices are set up correctly.

► Works for all iPhone models including:
iPhone 6s/6s Plus, iPhone 7/7 Plus, iPhone 8/8 Plus, iPhone X/XR/XS (Max), iPhone 11/11 Pro (Max), iPhone SE 2020, iPhone 12/12 Pro (Max)/12 mini, iPhone 13 Pro (Max)/13 mini, and iPhone 14 Plus/14 Pro (Max)

Tip 1. Force Restart Find My Friends

When you encounter any problems with Find My Friends, this is the first thing you can try.

For iPhone X and later:

• On the Home screen, swipe up from the bottom of the screen and pause in the middle of the screen.

• Swipe right or left to find Find My app.

• Swipe up on Find My preview to close it.

iPhone SE, iPhone 8 and earlier, and iPod touch:

• Double-click the Home button.

• Swipe right or left to find Find My app.

• Swipe up on Find My preview to close it.

Relaunch Find My to see if the problem is solved. If not, move to the next method.

Tip 2. Refresh Location Services

When GPS is not working on your or your friend’s phone, you may meet the Find My Friends no location found or other issues. Make sure that you both have turned on the location services. You may have turned it off to save battery.

Go to Settings > Tap Privacy > Turn on Location Services. If it’s already on, you can turn it off and turn it on again after 10-20 seconds.

Tip 3. Reinstall Find My App

Uninstalling and reinstalling the Find My app may help solve Find My Friends not working problem.

Tip 4. Check Internet Connection

It needs the network to track the location.  Please make sure the Internet is working well, whether you are using cellular data or Wi-Fi. If necessary, you can try to reset network settings to troubleshoot the issues with your network.

• Go to Settings > General > Transfer or Reset iPhone > Reset.
• Tap Reset Network Settings.
• Enter your passcode to confirm.

The reset will delete Wi-Fi passcodes and Bluetooth-paired devices.

Tip 5. Delete  Your Friends

When Find My Friends not working, you can delete people and reinvite them again.

Tip 6. Correct Date and Time

Incorrect date and time will stop Find My Friends from working well. If you or your friends have set the time manually, you may need to set the date and time automatically. In this way, the app will get the time from the network and thus it will work properly.

Go to Settings > Tap General > Tap Date & Time > Turn on Set Automatically. If it’s already one, turn it off and then turn it on again after 10-20 seconds.

Tip 7. Turn on Share My Location in iCloud

To make Find My Friends work, the Share My Location function should be turned on in iCloud. This is a key part of making Find My Friends work. Many people ignore this and thus meet the Find My Friends not working issue. Go to Settings > Tap iCloud account > Tap Find My > Turn on Share My Location.

Tip 8. Turn off Hide My Location

Users can choose to disable location sharing to ensure privacy. Maybe your friend has enabled the Hide My Location option so it says location not found. Ask your friend to open Find My app to turn on Share My Location.

Tip 9. Force Restart iPhone

Force restart can help clear out all background apps and refresh iPhone’s memory, which can fix minor glitches that cause the Find My Friends not working issue.

● Force restart iPhone 8 and later with Face ID :

Quickly press and release the Volume Up button > Quickly press and release the Volume Down button > Press and hold the Side/Power button until you see the Apple logo.

● Force restart iPhone 7/7 Plus:

Press and hold the Top button and Volume Down button together > Release both buttons when the Apple logo appears.

● Force restart iPhone 6s, SE and earlier with Home button:

Hold down the Home button and the Top (or Side) button at the same time > Release both buttons when the Apple logo appears.

Tip 10. Make Sure the Apple ID is Correct

Make sure that you and your friends have logged into the correct Apple ID. If you are trying to find your device on your friend's iPhone, you can go to Find My app > Tap Me at the bottom of the screen > Choose Help a Friend option. This allows you to open iCloud and log in with your own Apple ID.

Bonus Tip: Transfer Data from One iPhone to Another Easily

Apple provides many useful applications and functions to enable good interaction between two Apple users, such as the Find My Friends app we just mentioned. However, data transfer between two iPhones is not that easy. Although AirDrop provides a wireless transfer method, the type of data that can be transferred is limited.

If you want to transfer non-purchased items or a big file, you can use a third-party transfer tool. FoneTool for iOS is recommended here. This tool can help you transfer songs, photos, videos, contacts and any files in Files app between two iDevices. The transfer does not require a Wi-Fi connection and does not consume cellular data. 

It lets you easily preview and select the files you want to transfer.  You can get FoneTool from App Store.

In addition, FoneTool has one desktop tool for Windows users. You can use the tool to help you transfer data from iPhone to PC, from PC to iPhone, or from iPhone to another.

Besides data transfer, it also offers useful tools to help you backup data, convert HEIC pictures, find and delete duplicate photos. Download FoneTool and discover more!

Conclusion

That’s all about how to fix Find My Friends not working on iPhone. Make sure that you and your friends have turned on the required settings. If nothing works, you can go to a nearby Apple Store and ask the technician for help.

If you like this guide, don’t hesitate to share it to help more people.