Restore GPS Functionality on Your iPhone: Overcoming ‘Location Unavailable’ Challenges

Do you keep seeing “Location Not Available” while tracking a friend or family member’s location in iMessage or Find My on your iPhone? It’s an issue that’s pretty easy to resolve. However, you may need to ask your friend or family member to take action on their device as well.

So without any further ado, let’s check out what it takes to fix the “Location Not Available” error on an iPhone. We’ll start with the steps you can try yourself, before moving onto what the person you’re trying to track needs to do.

How to Fix “Location Not Available” From Your Own iPhone

There isn’t a lot you can do yourself if Messages or the Find My app says “Location Not Available” when someone has chosen to share their iPhone location with you . But it’s still easiest to try these steps first, before involving somebody else.

Quit and Relaunch Find My or Messages

Sometimes, the Messages or the Find My app can bug out and result in the “Location Not Available” error. The quickest way to resolve that is to force quit and relaunch the app in question.

To force quit Messages or Find My:

1. Swipe up from the bottom of the screen to invoke the App Switcher. If you have an iPhone with a Home button, press theHome button twice instead.
2. Locate theMessages orFind My card and push it off the top of the screen to close it.
3. Now go back to the Home screen and open Messages or Find My again.

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Restart Your iPhone

If closing and reopening the relevant app didn’t work, you might need to restart your iPhone instead. To restart your iPhone, simply open theSettings app and tapGeneral > Shut Down . Once the screen goes black, wait for several seconds and hold theSide or theTop button until you see the Apple logo.

How to Fix “Location Not Available” From Someone Else’s iPhone

If the two fixes above didn’t help, you’ll need to shift your attention to your friend or family member’s iPhone. Walk them through the fixes below on a call. Or, share this post with them and make sure they follow the instructions in this section.

Toggle Share My Location Off and On

Disabling and re-enabling Share My Location in the Find My preferences can help an iPhone broadcast its location again. To do that, go toSettings and tap the person’s name at the top of the screen, then selectFind My . Toggle the switch next toShare My Location off and then on.

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Share the Location in Messages and Find My Again

Next, disable and re-enable location sharing in the Messages or Find My app:

• In Messages: Open a chat with the person you want to share your location with. Tap the profile picture at the top of the chat and selectStop Sharing My Location . Now hitShare My Location .
• In Find My: Switch to thePeople tab, tap the name of the person you want to share your location with and selectStop Sharing My Location . Then, go back to thePeople tab, tap theAdd (+) icon,Share My Location , and choose a contact.

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Restart the iPhone

The simplest method is to go toSettings > General > Shut Down . Then, press and hold theSide orTop button to restart the iPhone.

Check the Date and Time

An incorrect date or time can create issues with location sharing. To check this, go toSettings > General > Date & Time . If the date or time is wrong, turn on the switch next toSet Automatically to get the correct date and time from Apple’s servers. If this doesn’t help, deactivate the switch and set the correct time manually.

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Switch to Cellular Data

Spotty Wi-Fi can also play a factor, so try using cellular or mobile data instead. To do that, open the iPhone’sControl Center (swipe down from the top-right of the screen or swipe up from the bottom if your iPhone has a Home button) and tap theWi-Fi icon to disable it.

If cellular data is active, the iPhone should automatically start using it. If not, tap theCellular icon to activate it. Just make sure you don’t have any cellular data problems on your iPhone as well.

Sharing Your Location Isn’t Always Wise

Location tracking can be a double-edged sword. Although it enables valuable features such as location sharing in iMessage and Find My, various third-party apps and services can also use your location for nefarious purposes. Learn what you can do to find and disable unwanted location tracking on your iPhone to protect your privacy while taking advantage of this feature.