The Best Answer and Fix for Why is Find My Friends Not Working

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Jenefey Aaron

Updated on 08/06/2024 / Fix iPhone

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iPhone developed Find My friends to enable people to be able to use GPS to locate and connect with family and friends. However, there are times when Find My Friend stopped working on the iPhone. eg."find my friends location not updating someones location". This may be caused by different issues and we examine how to solve these issues and get Find My Friends running smoothly again.

Part 1: What is Find My Friends?

Find my Friends use GPS to track family and friends. This is a very useful tool for safeguarding children and monitoring their movement. Apart from the security benefits, Find my Friends makes it faster to connect with loved ones even when they are off-network coverage. When Find My Friend app fails, it may cause a lot of discomforts as you may not be able to track your friends or family members. We present ways of fixing issues you may have with Apple Find My friend app not working on your iPhone.

Part 2: Why is Find My Friends Not Working and How to Fix

There are quite many error messages iPhone users may get when Find My Friend iPhone not working. Some of these error messages are listed below. We also provide possible solutions users can use to fix the issue to avoid getting the error message over and over.

Situation 1: Why Does Find My Friends Say Location Not Available?

The reasons your Find My Friends say location not available may be that:

  • Your friend may have activated the "Hide My Location" option.
  • Your friend's phone battery may be down completely.
  • Your friend may have turned off Location Services on his device.
  • Your friend may have travelled to an area where Find My Friend is not available.
  • The date or time on your friend's phone is incorrect.

How to Fix:

If you can put a call through to your friend, do so.

  • Ask where he or she is located.
  • From the location given, you can find out if Find My Friend service is available there.
  • If it is, ask if your friend has deliberately activated the "Hide My Location" service.

    hide my location
    Pic.- Hide My Location
  • If he or she has disabled the Location Services on his or her phone, it probably means your device is working fine from your end.
  • If you can reach your target by a call, it is likely the target's device is off. Try locating another person with the app and check what response you get.

On the other hand, if you suspect that it is your device that is having issues you can first confirm that the date and time on your device are correct. If the problem persists, you may simply restart your phone and try using Find My Friend app again. Should the problem persist, you may be looking at a software issue on your iPhone.

Situation 2: Find My Friends Only Works on Wi-Fi

If you find that Find My Friends only works when you are connected to Wi-fi the likely causes are:

  • Incorrect date or time settings.
  • Find My Friends may require an update.
  • There may be a little software issue on your iPhone.
  • You may have exhausted your data subscription.

How to Fix:

  • Start by confirming that the date and time on your iPhone are correct without connecting to Wi-fi.
  • If it still doesn't respond, check your mobile data subscription to see if you have enough and active data subscriptions. You may use USSD codes or call your network provider's call centre agent to ask about your subscription status.
  • If subscription status is valid and the problem persists, run an update on your iPhone to fix the issue. Simply go to System on Settings and click Check for Software Updates. If an update is found, proceed with the update and try again.

    check for update
    Pic.- Check for update

Should the problem persist, you can use ReiBoot to reset the iPhone. How to use ReiBoot has been explained below.

Situation 3: Find My Friends Notify Me Not Working

Likely causes for this error message may include:

  • There may be a need to update software.
  • Incorrect date and time settings.

How to Fix:

First, update your iPhone system software as described above. After the update is complete, adjust the date and time correctly and retry Find My Friends.

Situation 4: Find My Friends Not Working with New Update

The reasons for Find My Friends not working with new update may include:

  • Software issues on iPhone.
  • Another application may be interfering with Find My Friends.

How to Fix:

To fix this issue, close Find My Friends and open other apps at random to check if they are working properly. If they are working properly, the "Find My Friend" software likely has issues. In this case, using ReiBoot can help restore normalcy to the app.

Part 3: Highest Efficient Solution for All Kinds of Find My Friends iPhone Not Working

Tenorshare ReiBoot is a software tool for resolving iPhone issues in one click. ReiBoot can solve iPhone software issues such as Find My Friends Not Working, instagram stories not working, iPad smart keyboard not working and other issues. ReiBoot supports most iPhone models. The software runs on Windows PC and Mac. You can use either the free or Pro version to fix iPhone software issues.

How to Use ReiBoot to fix Find My Friends Not Working

  • Visit Tenorshare official website to download ReiBoot on your computer. Once the download is complete, finish the setup and open ReiBoot on your PC/Mac.

  • Use a USB cable to connect your iPhone to the PC. Click the "Repair Operating System" on the main menu as soon as it is displayed on the PC.

    repair operating system
    Pic1.- Repair Operating System
  • You'll be prompted to fix the device. Click Fix Now to proceed to the firmware download page. Choose Download to initiate the firmware installation process.

    click fix now
    Pic2.- Click Fix Now
  • Once the firmware download is complete, you will be notified. Select Repair now to start your iPhone recovery. After the recovery is complete, your iPhone will software will work perfectly without any issues.

    fix complete
    Pic3.- Fix complete

NB: Make sure that the USB stays firmly connected to both your pc and iPhone throughout the recovery process. Improper connections can delay the recovery process.

Conclusion

When you encounter challenges with Find My Friends on your iPhone, the first thing to do is to confirm if the fault is coming from your device or that of your friends. A simple call to ask if he or she changed his or her location settings can help you narrow down the source of the problem. It may also stop you from wasting precious time and efforts where they are not required. Once the cause of the issue is identified, fix using the guide above. When you are unsure of the major cause, you may simply use Tenorshare ReiBoot to fix the issue once and for all.

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