How to know if someone turned their location off

Discerning if someone has turned off their location can be a bit tedious depending on what you are using to track the other person’s device. There are a series of apps like Find me, Friends, Life360 etc that helps you determine the location of someone. 

But then the person has to be connected to the internet while also turning on their location. This varies across different smartphones though.

That said, I will be answering the question “How do you know if someone turned off their location on their smartphone device” and the different ways you can check the location of someone

How do you know if Someone Turned off their Location on their iPhone?

Table of Contents show

1. How do you know if Someone Turned off their Location on their iPhone?

1.1. 1. Check Through the Find My App

1.2. 2. Check From Another iPhone Device

2. How do you know if Someone Turned off their Location on Android?

3. How to check the Last Updated Location on your Android Device

3.1. 1. The location of the device is Turned Off

3.2. 2. The device is switched off

3.3. 3. The Area where the device is located has no network

3.4. 4. Wrong Time and Date set

3.5. 5. The person you are tracking doesn’t have “Find my” installed

4. Can I Track a Phone without Internet?

5. How can I track my iPhone when it is switched off

6. How can someone see your location when your Device is on Airplane mode

Depending on what app you are using to track a particular person, you can easily discern if their location is turned off when you see messages like “location not available” on Apps like Find My or life360 or not.

But then, with some of these apps, you might not be too sure if the update it gives you about a person’s location is right. 

To be double sure that you’ve tried everything possible when looking for the answers to “How do you know if someone turned off their location” here are some things you can try to check for a person’s location.

1. Check Through the Find My App

How to know if someone turned their location off

There are a series of apps that can detect the location of someone while the person is distant. An easy option is the “Find My” app. However, you might not be able to locate your friends on “find mY’ Unless they sent you a request and you’ve accepted. What that means is, that they have to be on your friend list on the “Find my” App before you would be able to track their location.

There are different ways you track their location using the map. 

You can use the Map to check your friend’s list or family sharing if the person you are tracking is on the group.

However, just as I said earlier if you are trying to figure out the question “How do you know if someone turned off their location”, the person you are tracking must have earlier accepted access to share their location with you before you will be able to track them.

In addition to that, the internet on the device you are tracking has to be ON

If one of these is OFF, you will struggle to track the person.

2. Check From Another iPhone Device

In some scenarios, your device could be the one having an issue. It could be a technical one or a software bug.

To be double sure that the person you are trying to track is offline or available, you should try logging into your Find My account from another iPhone to see if you can track the person.

If you are still unable to track the person from another device, it means the person is offline or has turned off his device.

How do you know if Someone Turned off their Location on Android?

How to know if someone turned their location off

If you have an android device instead, it would be much easier if the person you want to track has installed find me on their device while you also have the “Find My” app.

The “Find My” is not synonymous with Apple devices as it also has its android version

Anyway, before you will be able to figure out the answer to “How do you know if someone turned off their location on Andriod” your Andriod device must have the “Find my” app installed on it. 

Secondly, you need to have connected it to your google account for it to work.

If you’ve done all these here is how you track a device location using Find my on Android

  • Open your browser and go to android.com/find. You can alternatively open the “Find My Device” app on a friend’s Android phone.
  • Next, log in to your Google account (the one connected to your device).
  • On the next screen you will see a list of devices, simply click the one that’s missing and you will see its last location.

While this might look too easy, or maybe you are not satisfied with the result you are getting. You can get the last updated location of your device by using Google Maps.

If you want to learn how to do that follow the steps below

How to check the Last Updated Location on your Android Device

How to know if someone turned their location off

For this to work, you also need to have installed the “Find My” device app on your Android device and the app has to be linked with your Google account.

This is another way of figuring out the question “How do you know if someone turned off their location when the device is off and you want to check their last updated location

That being said here is how to do that

  • Log in to your Google Account.
  • Open Google Maps.
  • Next, click on the “Menu” icon in the upper right corner of the screen.
  • Select “Your timeline” on the drop-down list.
  • In the window that pops up, enter the date you lost your device.
  • Finally, you will be able to access the list of your device’s last updated locations

Since you are aware of all these different ways to track your friend’s android device or iPhone device. 

You might have tried all these steps above with no positive change probably you are not able to track them. 

If that is the case you don’t need to worry as I will be stating some of the reasons why you are not able to track your friends

1. The location of the device is Turned Off

If you are not able to tell if someone turned off their device. One of the reasons behind it is if they turn off their location.

The reason for this is that most of these apps that can track your friend or family devices eg “Find My” make use of the location sharing feature.

2. The device is switched off

If the smartphone you are tracking is switched off or the battery is fully discharged, you won’t be able to locate the device until it comes on. In scenarios like this, your best bet in this scenario is if your device updates its last location in case you forgot it somewhere.

3. The Area where the device is located has no network

If the person whom you are trying to track has turned off the internet access or has little to no network around where he stays, tracking him would be hard 

4. Wrong Time and Date set

Apart from the internet access and the phone power, Setting the date wrong would make it harder for your device to be seen by another device

5. The person you are tracking doesn’t have “Find my” installed

This is a pretty obvious one as you can’t track anyone who doesn’t have a find my app. But it doesn’t end there, the person must have given access to share location with you before you will be able to track on Find My

Can I Track a Phone without Internet?

It might be shocking to tell you that it is very possible to do that. There are mapping apps that can track your device without internet access. However, it is a bit harder to do that as it requires assisted GPS capability

How can I track my iPhone when it is switched off

Tracking your iPhone when it is switched off is not entirely impossible. But then, the best you can do is to track its last known location

How can someone see your location when your Device is on Airplane mode

The thing about Airplane mode is that you cannot track the location of a device in Airplane mode. Unless you know the last known location of the device. 

Final thought

If you have misplaced your iPhone, you can check here for a more comprehensive guide on how to track it.

How can you tell if someone turned their location off Iphone?

"Location Not Available appears below your name in Find My Friends on the devices of people following you, as if your device is turned off, in airplane mode, or just offline."

How do I know if someone has disabled their location?

How Do I Know if Someone Stopped Sharing Their Location With Me?.
Open the “Find My” app..
Go to the “People” tab..
You'll see a list of people who can see your location and who enabled you to see theirs. If the person in question isn't on the list, it means they've stopped sharing their location with you..

Does it tell someone when you turn your location off?

This stops all apps on your device, such as Maps, from using your location. No one is notified if you turn off Location Services, but some features may not work as expected without access to your location.

Why does it say no location found for someone?

Generally, the "no location found" warning displays when a phone is not connected to Wi-Fi or loses service. Location not available indicates that the GPS attempted but failed to determine the phone's location. Looking for a way to locate Android phone?