How To Freeze Location On Find My iPhone

Keeping track of your iPhone is one of the most valuable features of Find My iPhone. Once you’ve signed in to iCloud with your Apple ID and enabled Find My iPhone on all your devices, you’ll be able to track down your iPhone if it ever gets lost or stolen. It’s an excellent safety measure that can save time and hassle in the future if you misplace or forget where you last left your phone. But there are even more ways that Find My iPhone can come in handy, such as when trying to stay away from a noisy place or locating a friend or family member. Furthermore, there are exceptional circumstances where the freezing location on Find my iPhone will be helpful, such as when traveling to another country or staying unfamiliar for extended periods. The following article will go through how to freeze location on Find My iPhone so that it stops revealing exactly where you are at any given moment.

How To Freeze Location On Find My iPhone

1. On your iPhone, open the Settings app and tap on iCloud.
2. Scroll down to the bottom of the screen and tap on Find My iPhone.
3. Tap on Keep My Location On under the Find My iPhone section.
4. Switch off location services by tapping on “Never.”
5. Tap on Back to return to the previous screen, then tap on Back again to close Settings and save your changes.
6. On an iOS device with Find My iPhone enabled, head to iCloud.com and enter your username and password when prompted.
7. Click on the gear icon in the upper-left corner of the screen, then select Options from the list that appears.
8. Click on Turn Off Location Services for Find My iPhone, then click on Turn Off Location Services in the pop-up that appears.
9. Click OK to confirm your decision, then close Settings and log out of iCloud.
10. On an Apple Watch, open the Watch app on your iPhone and select My Watch.
11. Tap on the name of your Apple Watch underneath My Watch, then tap on General in the list that appears.
12. Tapping on Location Services will open a new window with three options: Always, While Using the App, and Never for All Apps. Tap Always to have your location constantly monitored by Find My iPhone and prevent anyone from changing it to “while using this app.”
13. In iOS 8 or later, tap into Settings > Privacy > Location Services > System Services > Find my iPhone to prevent anyone from changing the freeze location to “while using this app.”

What It Means To Freeze Location On Find My iPhone

If you freeze location on Find My iPhone, your device will still be able to send notifications and other alerts, such as push notifications for phone calls and texts. It will also still be able to send you an alert if your battery gets too low or if someone tries to unlock your phone with an incorrect passcode. But the app and website will no longer be able to track your iPhone’s location in real-time. If you ever want to unfreeze the location on Find My iPhone, you can simply turn the “Always” setting back on in the app or website. You can then start tracking your iPhone’s location again in real-time.

When To Freeze Location On Find My iPhone

• If you’re lending your iPhone to someone and don’t want them to be able to track where you are.
• If you have an iPhone with a pre-installed “Find my iPhone” feature but don’t have the app-enabled on your device, to begin with.
• If you have an Android device with Find My Device Dependency Framework but don’t want anyone to be able to follow your location on an Android device.

When Not to Freeze Location on Find My iPhone

• If someone already has physical access or remote access over the internet with an iOS device running 10 or later, they will always be able to see the location of Find My iPhone after freezing it as long as it stays online, even if the screen lock is turned off or is unlocked at any time (even if there is no passcode).
• You may not want to freeze location if you suspect that you lost your phone in a place where the thieves might have internet connectivity, such as some WiFi areas at their office or home, because they can still connect over the internet and track the location of Find My iPhone even after freezing it if they know where they lost their phone without any SIM card inserted in it (i.e., cat map).
• You may not want to freeze location for a long time unless someone has physical access to your device because a. You may want to track it when you are trying to locate your device again b. By freezing location, you won’t be able to use the remote wipe feature over the internet because it activates only if your phone is online, preventing them from remotely wiping it.
• If a person with physical access or remote access over the internet with an iOS device running 10 or later freezes the location of their own iPhone, they can still un-freeze it after you froze yours even though they already lost their iPhone over the internet or are unable to sign in with Face ID or Touch ID on their device.

Benefits Of Using Find My iPhone

1. If you lost your phone, use Find My iPhone.
2. To track your iPad/iPhone if lost activity and location by writing a detailed description of your phone in the device, serial number, IMEI, and email address or username, as well as uploading a picture to help you recognize your device (note: some thieves can also take such action).
3. To track or ping your Mac or MacBook computer when it’s offline.
4. If you need to delete data from the device remotely if you lost it somewhere and don’t want anyone else to use it against your wishes.
5. If you want to erase all data on the phone remotely, if you are going to sell it or donate it without ever turning it on by using this feature (if there is no SIM card inserted in the device and the power button is disabled).
6. If someone has access over the internet with an iOS device running 10 or later, they can remotely wipe iPhone even if the screen lock is turned off, Touch ID failed. The passcode is enabled using this feature even after freezing location over the internet for some time until they lose their phone without having any SIM card inserted (i.e., cat map).

Why You Shouldn’t Always Freeze Location on Find My iPhone?

• Find My iPhone is a helpful and easy-to-use app with many useful features.
• You can freeze location on Find My iPhone to keep your whereabouts private and make it easier to navigate new places, but you shouldn’t do it all the time. It’s essential to unfreeze the location every once in a while so that your device can update and show accurate information on the app and website. Otherwise, your device will begin to lose accuracy, and you won’t be able to get the most out of Find My iPhone.
• You should also unfreeze the location if you ever lose your phone. If you freeze location, your iPhone won’t be able to send you its location if it goes missing. A freezing location on Find My iPhone is a good idea when staying in a new place or when you need to keep your exact whereabouts private.

Tips for keeping your information safe and secure

1. If you sell or donate your device, make sure you have removed all personal information from it. You can do this by erasing the device remotely on iCloud.com, removing your Apple ID and password from the device, and deleting the Find My iPhone app.
2. Never leave a device with sensitive information unattended in a public place like a library or coffee shop.
3. Make sure to erase data on your device before selling or donating it so that no one else can access it when using it.
4. If you’re going to be traveling internationally, make sure that Find My iPhone is turned off before you leave the country so that your location isn’t tracked while you’re out of the country for privacy reasons (iCloud will still be back up your data).
5. Never leave an iOS device lying somewhere where someone could find it and use Find My iPhone to track down its owner (iCloud will still back up its data).

Final Word

If you’re using, Find My iPhone to help find a lost phone, remember that it can be helpful, but it’s not entirely secure. To keep your information private, you should sign in to Find My iPhone with a passcode. You should also delete location history from the Settings app and set up two-factor authentication on your iCloud account.