I’m trying to figure out if it’s possible to freeze or pause the location shown on Find My iPhone temporarily. I need to do this for privacy reasons, but I want to know how it works without turning the feature off completely. Can someone guide me?
Nope, ya can’t exactly ‘freeze’ the location on Find My iPhone. The app’s designed to keep it real-time, so unless you turn off your location settings entirely, there’s no sneaky way to pause it. That said, you can mess with it by putting your phone in Airplane Mode or turning off Wi-Fi and cellular data, but anyone who’s tracking you will just see ‘Location Not Found’ instead of your last spot. Another workaround some people try is spoofing with GPS apps, but that’s kinda sketchy, not to mention it requires jailbreaking in some cases. If it’s really about privacy, maybe just communicate with those tracking ya? Or like… leave the phone somewhere innocuous? Just sayin’.
You could technically use Airplane Mode like @yozora mentioned, but honestly, that’s kinda obvious to anyone checking your location. Another option is sharing your location from a different Apple device, like an iPad or Mac, if you have one. It shifts the location to that device as long as it’s linked to the same Apple ID.
If you’re looking to seem “stationary,” leaving the device somewhere safe where you’d normally be isn’t a bad idea either. A little old-school, but it works without making the “Location Not Found” flag pop up. You don’t even have to turn anything off this way.
Spoofing apps? Meh, I’d stay away from those unless you REALLY know what you’re doing—it’s a hassle, could require jailbreaking, and there are risks with downloading sketchy apps. Not to mention, Apple’s pretty good at clamping down on stuff like that.
If privacy’s such a concern, might wanna talk to whoever’s tracking you. If that’s not an option, find creative ways to “hide” without outright disabling features. Sometimes low-tech solutions are the best. Anyway, just be cautious, especially if the reason for hiding your location is more serious than just wanting a bit of space.