I’m in a situation where I need to stop sharing my location temporarily on Find My iPhone. I have an important meeting, and I don’t want to be tracked for a while. Can someone guide me on how to do this?
Sure, you can definitely pause your location sharing on Find My iPhone temporarily. Here is a step-by-step guide to help you achieve that:
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Open the “Settings” app on your iPhone. This is the app with a gear icon on it.
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Tap on your name at the top of the Settings menu. This will take you to your Apple ID settings.
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Select "Find My.” It should be about halfway down the list of options.
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Tap on “Share My Location.” This will bring up a toggle switch.
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Toggle off “Share My Location.” When the switch goes gray, it means that you are no longer sharing your location with anyone via Find My iPhone.
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Done! Your location is now paused. You can go back into this setting and toggle it back on when you are ready to share your location again.
Alternatively, if you want to stop sharing your location with just specific people instead of everyone:
- Follow the initial steps 1-3 above to get into “Find My” settings.
- Tap on “People” at the bottom of the screen.
- Tap on the person’s name that you want to stop sharing your location with.
- Tap “Stop Sharing My Location.”
This lets you maintain privacy during your meeting but still allows you to share your location with others as needed.
Be aware that when you turn off location services in this way, apps that rely on your location (like maps or weather) will not have access to it either during that time.
For those who need a quicker way to disable all location-based sharing:
- Go back to your Settings app, and scroll down to “Privacy.”
- Tap on “Location Services.”
- At the top, you will see a toggle switch for “Location Services.” Turn it off.
Remember though, turning off “Location Services” will turn off location access for all apps and services, which can be more disruptive depending on your needs.
Lastly, if you want another level of security, you can put your iPhone in Airplane Mode:
- Swipe up from the bottom of the screen (or down from the upper-right corner on newer models with Face ID).
- Tap the airplane icon to enable Airplane Mode.
This disconnects your phone from cellular, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth, stopping all forms of tracking effectively—though it also stops you from making or receiving calls or using data services.
Just a couple of points to note:
- Others might notice your location-sharing has been paused, particularly if they are closely monitoring your location.
- If your phone is found or stolen, you won’t be able to use Find My iPhone to locate it while location services are turned off.
Choose the method that best suits the context of your meeting, and turn location sharing back on once you’re done. This should help maintain your privacy without causing too many interruptions.
I’d say @byteguru covered a lot of good ground there, but another method to consider if you’re looking to be off the radar more discreetly would be to use a different device entirely. That way, you can leave your iPhone at another location. For example, if you have an old phone or tablet lying around, you can leave your iPhone at home and carry the secondary device with you. This avoids anyone knowing you’ve disabled your location services.
However, if you’re in a pinch and can only use your iPhone, be aware that frequently toggling off “Share My Location” can raise eyebrows among people who check your location often. Instead of turning off “Find My iPhone,” you can temporarily disable location access for specific apps under:
- Settings
- Privacy
- Location Services
- Choose the specific apps and set their location access to “Never” or “While Using the App.”
This way, your location stays off the grid for potentially prying eyes but doesn’t totally cut off your navigation services or weather updates.
If that’s still too much hassle, using a VPN to obscure your location might be a middle-ground approach. VPNs won’t stop Find My iPhone but can reroute and obscure your IP address, which can throw off some lesser tracking methods.
Using airplane mode, as mentioned by @byteguru, is another solid choice but it’s pretty obvious when someone tries to contact you and can’t get through.
Personal experience: I once scheduled an hour-long meeting and decided to leave my phone in my car with location services on since it was in the secure office parking lot. It was the easiest and least suspicious method for me; just remember to leave the device somewhere safe. If you’re gonna go with @byteguru’s methods or my suggestion, toggle it back on as soon as you’re done to avoid any inconvenience to others relying on your shared location.
Just take your pick depending on how discreet you need to be and how much inconvenience you’re willing to tolerate.
Seriously, all these suggestions about disabling location services or using Airplane Mode are way over the top. Like, who actually does that?! 
Do you really need people to notice you went dark? That’s just asking for more questions. And using a VPN? Come on, it’s not that big of a deal.
Here’s what you should really do if you need to disappear for a bit but still want to use your phone:
Leave your phone at home and grab another device. Have an old iPhone or a tablet lying around? Just use that for your meeting. This way, your primary phone stays in one place, and people won’t even realize you went off the grid.
And what’s with all the steps and toggling on and off? Cool, but totally impractical in real life. Just stop overcomplicating things. Simple solutions like just leaving the phone somewhere safe, like your car as mentioned, will work 99% of the time.
All these “advanced” methods just seem like too much hassle for a temporary situation. Sticking with the simplest method—leaving your iPhone at home or in a secure spot—might be the least suspicious. Also, if you’re really paranoid, just go for a burner phone. Yeah, it’s old-school but kinda effective.