Location sharing and location services is one of the means of checking someone’s location on your iPhone or android phone and tablet.
As long as someone is sharing location with you on iPhone or android phone, you can easily check the person’s current location but sometimes it may not be the case especially if the person turned off his location.
This leads us to the question of the day.
How to know if someone turned off their location
To know if someone turned off their location, if it shows no location found, then it simply means the person turned off location on their phone numbers
The way location services works on iPhone or any other Apple device is quite different on android.
So for better understanding on the question being asked on how do you know if someone turned off their location, I will explain it using android and Apple device.
New Update as at September 2023,
It no longer show Not Sharing Location, but rather shows No Location Found.
This is the case since ios 16.3 update, and if someone turned off share my location on their iphone, it will show no location found on Find My app.
Related Posts:
- Difference between no location found and location not available
- Does imessage location show when you’re active?
For Apple device, you can check someone’s location on your iPhone, iPad, Mac or the Apple watch as long as you have an active internet connection like the Wi-Fi or cellular data. Same goes to android phone, tablet and the smartwatch.
1.1. How to know if someone turned off their location on iPhone, iPad, Mac or Apple watch
To know if someone turned off their location on iPhone or any Apple device, it will show not sharing location on find my app, and location not available on iMessage.
I will explain on iPhone or any Apple device based on Find my app and the iMessage
2.1. Find My App
Find my app is one of the means to know or find out if someone turned off their location and which will show Not sharing location for the contact.
Below is a typical example of what I’m talking about.
Looking at the above picture you will see the it states Not Sharing Location . Online and this means that the person with the phone En has an active internet connection on it’s iPhone but turned off Location services.
If someone turned off Location services on it’s iPhone, it will show Not Sharing Location on find my iPhone section, and No Location Found on find my friends section.
As you know that both find friends and find my iPhone are joined together to into Find My app which is displayed at the bottom tab.
Also note that if someone turned off Share My Location on his iPhone, iPad, Mac or the Apple watch it will show Not Sharing Location on your iPhone when checking the person’s current location.
These are what you will see if someone turned off their location on their iPhone, iPad, Mac or the Apple watch;
- Not sharing location
- No location found
- Location not available on iMessage
When it shows Not Sharing Location Online
If it shows Not Sharing Location Online it simply means the person has an active internet connection but is not sharing location with you as location services us turned, share my location is turned off or probably the person stopped sharing his location with you.
For example using the below picture;
The below picture states Not sharing location . online and the iPhone(En) is shown on the picture as well. As long as the the iPhone picture is shown, it simply means the person’s iPhone is active with an internet connection even though the person’s location services, share my location is turned off.
Or probably, the person stopped sharing his location with you.
When it shows Not Sharing Location
When it shows Not sharing location but didn’t state online and which the device or the iPhone is blank, it simply means that the person’s has no internet connection on it’s iPhone or Apple device, and the person location services, or share my location is turned off.
Or maybe the person is no longer sharing location with you.
Below is a typical example of what I’m talking about.
When you see this type of picture while tracking someone on find my app, kindly note that the person’s location services, or share my location ID turned off or probably the person stopped sharing their location with you.
2.2. How to know if someone turned off their location on iMessage
iMessage is another means of knowing if someone location services, share my location is turned off or the someone stopped sharing their location with you.
If you start sharing location with someone on your iPhone, it covers location sharing on find my app and the iMessage.
This means that if turned off location services and share my location on your iPhone, iPad or any other Apple device, it will indicate on find my app and the iMessage. Also if someone stopped sharing their location with you on iPhone or any Apple device, it will indicate on find my app and the iMessage as well.
So another method know if someone turned off their location on iPhone, iPad, Mac or the Apple watch is by using the iMessage.
Get started by opening the iMessage app and locate the conversation you had with the person. Open the conversation and tap on the contacts name at the top of the message box.
If there’s no conversation, tap on new message icon, locate the contact and open the contact.
When you open the contacts name on your iMessage, right there you will see a map which indicates that the person or the contact is sharing location with you.
On iMessage, if the person turned off their location it will show Location Not Available right inside the map.
Here’s a typical example.
Once you see this type of image while checking someone’s location on iMessage, kindly note that the person turned off it’s location services or share my location.
When someone stopped sharing their location as seen iMessage
On iMessage; If someone stopped sharing their location with you, the map will no longer be available and which you won’t see a map when you check the person’s information on your iMessage.
I’m saying this for you to know the difference when someone stopped sharing their location with you and when the person turned off location services or share my location on their iPhone, iPad, Mac or the Apple watch.
Below is a typical example of how iMessage will look if someone stopped sharing their location with you or not sharing location with you on iMessage.
As you can see on the above picture there’s no map which indicates that the person is no longer sharing location with me anymore.
On the other hand, if the person is sharing location with you, this is what you will see when you check the person’s name or info on iMessage.
Now if the person turned off location services or share my location, it will show Location not available right inside the map.
So through iMessage and find my app you will know if someone turned off their location on the iPhone, iPad, Mac or the Apple watch.
1.2. How to know if someone turned off their location on android
To know if someone turned off their location on android, it will show offline while checking the person’s location on Google map.
Below is a typical example of when someone turned off location on their Android phone and tablet.
When you see offline while tracking someone on google map on your android phone or tablet, it is because of the fact that the person turned off location on it’s Android phone or tablet.
Without location being active or enabled on an android phone or tablet, you can’t track someone sharing location with you on google map as it is very compulsory.
Below is the location services I’m talking about on android phone and tablet.
In order to track someone on iPhone, iPad, Mac or the Apple, Android phone, Android phone or on Android phone smartwatch, location services must be enabled else nothing will work and even if the person is sharing location with you.
And this is how to know if someone turned off their location on iPhone or any android device.
Why is someone’s location not available?
If someone’s location is not available, it simply because of the person turning off location services or share my location on it’s device.
This mostly occurs on iPhone or any other Apple device and you will see such on iMessage.
However, if you happen to see location not available on Find My App this is caused by no active internet connection on the person’s phone or device.
But many of a time when you see location not available it is majorly caused by the person turning off location services or share my location which makes location services not being accessible by find my app or the iMessage.
What happens when someone stops sharing their location?
When someone stops sharing their location with you, you won’t be able to see or track their location on your device. Instead what you will see while tracking them will be not sharing location or location not available.
If it is on android, you will see cannot see the location on Google maps.
If someone decides to stop sharing location with you, then that’s the end of you tracking the person on your iPhone or android phone unless you will have to be unethical and use other means and methods of tracking someone.
Related Questions
Will people know if you turn off location?
The straight answer is yes. People will know if you turn off location as it will show not sharing location or location not available or offline on the other person’s device.
If you think they won’t find out I’m telling you they will unless the person doesn’t know not sharing location, location not available or location offline means on iPhone and android phone.
Why is someone’s location not updating?
This is majorly caused by a poor internet connection or location services is having an issue on your phone or device.
To fix the problem, turn off your location services, internet or even your phone and start all over again. From my experience, it is caused by a poor internet connection or the location services itself.
Why can’t I see the location of someone on my iPhone?
This occurs if the person no longer shares location with you or probably the person’s location services or share my location is turned off.
Again, if the person’s device is turned off or has no active internet connection, you won’t be able to see the person’s current location because it won’t update or gets updated due to lack of internet connection.
And this is where I draw the curtain on the question of the day, can you tell when someone turns off their location? The answer is yes. You can tell if someone turn off their location when you won’t be able to see the person’s current location on your device.
