How does imessage location work? Explained
Last Updated on May 28, 2023 by Kennedy
iMessage location is one of the ways to track someone on iPhone, iPad, Mac or the Apple watch as long as the person is sharing location with you.
Right in this article we’ll be looking at how does imessage location work and Hoe you can track someone on iPhone using the iMessage on your Apple device.
How does imessage location work?
iMessage location work in such a way that one must be sharing location with you and which you can track the person on iMessage or find my app.
If you are sharing location with someone on your iPhone, the person will see your location on iMessage and same goes if the person is sharing location with you, you can easily view the person’s location on your iPhone, iPad, Mac or the Apple watch.
Related Posts:
- Does imessage location show when you’re active?
- Why imessage doesn’t say delivered but phone rings? Explained
Before that, there are certain things that is required from you before you can be able to see someone’s location on your iPhone and as well as the other person.
They are as follows;
Location services must be enabled
Before iMessage location will work on any Apple device, location services must be turned on or enabled.
To do so;
Get started by opening the settings app on your device, scroll down to PRIVACY and open it.
As you opened privacy, you will see Location Services. Kindly tap to open Location Services on your device.
As it opens, you will get to location services page and make sure it is turned on like on the picture below.
Once location services is enabled on your iPhone you should go ahead and enable Share My Location as well.
Share My Location Must Be Enabled
Aside from location services, you should enable or turn on Share My Location on your iPhone or any Apple device.
To do so;
Get started by opening the settings app, scroll down to PRIVACY and open it.
Tap on Location Services and right there you will see Share My Location just like on the picture below.
So kindly tap on Share My Location and on the next screen you will see another Share my location and make sure the button is turned on. Below is a typical example of what I’m talking about.
Once you have both the location services and share my location enabled on your iPhone or Apple device, then you are set to using iMessage location.
Related Posts:
- Will imessage say delivered if blocked on iPhone & iPad?
- Does imessage location show when you’re active?
Tracking Someone on iMessage
This is where we get to the topic of the post on how does imessage location work.
Now to track someone on iMessage, the person must be sharing location with you and if the person isn’t sharing location with you, there’s no way you to track the person on iMessage.
So all you have to do is to request the person like a friend or family member to share it’s location with you.
Also if the person wants to track your location, you must be sharing location with the person else nothing will work.
Now the question is how do you share location on iMessage?
To share location on iMessage, open the message app and locate the conversation you had with the person or the contact on your iPhone.
If there’s no conversation with the person, simply tap on new conversation icon and enter the person’s contact info like iMessage apple id or a phone number connected with iMessage.
You can send a hello message or simply ignore that and go ahead to open the contact info. Right there you will see the Share My Location button.
Tap on the Share my location and you will see options presented to you which includes;
- Share for one hour
- Share until end of day
- Share indefinitely
To Share for one hour: This means you will be sharing location with the person for just 60 minutes or one hour and that won’t be exceeded. Once it gets to one hour location sharing will stop working.
Share until end of day: This simply means you will share location with someone until 11:59 pm and once it gets into the midnight, location sharing with the person or contact will stop working.
Share indefinitely: This simply means you will share location with a contact on your iPhone indefinitely until you decide to stop sharing location with the person.
Kindly select any option that suite you best depending on what you want.
Once you tap on any of the options that simply means you have started sharing your location with the person or contact. You should ask the other person to do so because if not, you can’t view or track te person on iMessage but rather the person will only track you.
After you and the other person has started to share location, now it is time to track each other on not just on iMessage but also on Find My App.
To track someone on iMessage location;
Open the message app and locate the conversation you had with the contact or tap on new message icon and select the contact.
Tap on the contact name and it will open options for the contact. Right there you will see the contact’s contact location and patiently wait for it to update.
Once the location updates, tap on the map and you can choose to select hybrid or satellite in order to have a better a view of the location.
To do so, when you tap on the map you will see a details or info icon at the right bottom.
You will see options which are;
- Hybrid
- Satellite
- Standard
By default it will be set to standard so you can set it to Hybrid or Satellite for a better view of the location.
Ince you have done that, you’re good to go tracking the person on your iPhone using the message app.
Remember that once you start sharing location with someone on your iPhone or Apple device, you can also track the person on find my app.
All you have to do is to open Find My App and you will definitely see the contact on devices tab or people tab.
Remember that for iMessage location to work, there must be an active internet connection on your Apple device else nothing will work.
How do you know if someone is checking your location on iMessage?
On iMessage, there’s no possible means to find out if someone is checking your location.
As long as you are sharing location with someone on your iPhone, iPad, Mac or the Apple watch, you should bear in mind that the person will be checking your location at any given time.
But so far there’s no option to know who is checking your location on iMessage location or find my app.
Does Apple tell someone when you check their location?
The answer is no. Apple does not tell if someone is checking your location on iMessage or find my app.
Your instinct will tell you that to you as long as you are sharing location with someone on your Apple device.
Can you turn off location on iPhone without the person knowing?
With the latest ios 15.6 you cannot turn off location location without the other person not knowing about it.
However, the person will not be notified about it but will find out when he or she tries to check your location and see No Location Found or Not Sharing Location.
In some cases the person will see Location Services off and these three means that both the location services and share my location are turned off.
If your iPhone is running on ios 15 and above, you will see Not Sharing Location just like on the picture below.
Then if your iPhone is running on the older version of the ios, it will show Location Services Off just like on the picture below.
So when you turn off location on iPhone through the information stated on find my app, the person will find out that you turned off your location even though the person won’t be notified about it.
Why isn’t someone’s location updating?
This is caused when there’s no active internet connection on your phone or probably on the other person’s phone.
Most times poor internet connection will hinder location services from updating someone’s current location and it will stuck on updating.
But if someone who is sharing location with you don’t have an internet connection on it’s phone, there’s no way the person’s current location will get updated simply because location services and share my location requires internet connection to work.
This is where I round it up on the question of the day, how does imessage location work. I do hope you understood all I have explained in this article and I’m open to your questions and suggestions, thanks.
