To pause location on Find My iPhone, use Apple's built-in Hide Location feature to temporarily stop sharing your live location with one person without alerting them. This gives you a quick privacy break while keeping the rest of your location sharing settings intact.
Why you might want to pause location on find my iPhone
You might want to pause location sharing for a few common reasons: to maintain privacy when you don't want someone to see your movements, to conserve battery life when you're away from power, or to save data on a limited plan. A temporary pause is better than permanently stopping sharing because you can resume it later without re-inviting the person. This is also useful when you're concerned about someone tracking a phone location through the Find My app without your ongoing permission.
The official way to pause location with one person
Apple provides a direct way to temporarily hide your location from one person in the Find My app. This is called Hide Location, and the other person will not receive a notification when you use it.
- Open the Find My app on your iPhone.
- Tap the People tab.
- Select the person you want to pause sharing with.
- Tap the More button (the three dots or info icon).
- Tap Hide Location.
Your location will now be hidden from that person. The pause is temporary, you can tap Show My Location on the same screen to resume sharing whenever you want.
How to stop sharing your location with one person
If you want to permanently stop sharing your location with someone, use the Stop Sharing action instead of Hide Location. This is a permanent change until you choose to share again.
- Open the Find My app and go to the People tab.
- Select the person you want to stop sharing with.
- Tap Stop Sharing My Location.
- Tap Stop Sharing Location to confirm.
Unlike pausing, this action fully ends the location sharing relationship with that person. They will be notified that you stopped sharing.
How to hide your location from everyone
To pause your location from everyone at once, turn off the global Share My Location setting. This hides your location from all people and devices you share with through Find My.
- Open the Find My app.
- Tap the Me tab.
- Turn off Share My Location.
Alternatively, you can go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services, then in the list of apps tap Find My and select Never. Turning off Location Services via Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services > Find My > Never can temporarily turn off Find My iPhone if you are concerned someone may have access to your iCloud account.
What Apple doesn't let you do
Apple does not offer a built-in "freeze location anywhere" feature for Find My iPhone beyond the stop and pause options described above. There is no carrier-based pause feature documented in Apple's help pages, the action is tied entirely to the Find My app and your shared-location setting.
Frequently Asked Questions
Will they know if I pause my location?
No. When you use the Hide Location feature to pause sharing with one person, Apple does not send a notification to that person. They will simply see that your location is no longer available.
Can I pause my location from an Android device?
No. Apple's Find My app on iPhone does not support pausing or freezing location from an Android device. The Android Find My Device app has its own Location Sharing feature, but it cannot control iPhone location sharing.
Does turning off Location Services pause Find My?
Turning off Location Services in Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services will prevent Find My from accessing your location, but this also affects all other apps that use location. Apple recommends using the Share My Location toggle in Find My for a more targeted pause.
How long does Hide Location last?
Hide Location lasts until you manually tap Show My Location on the same person's details screen. There is no automatic time limit, it remains paused until you choose to resume sharing.
