What to Know

Live in Find My means that you can see your contact's movements in real-time.
In order to track people's live locations in the Find My app, the person has to have allowed you to see their location.
To stop showing your live location in the Find My app, you must stop sharing your location.

Find My—previously known as separate apps Find My iPhone and Find My Friends—is a staple Apple native app that allows you to find your friends and personal Apple devices by accessing GPS locations. You may have noticed the small "Live" tag underneath friends who are sharing their location with you. We'll cover everything you need to know about what it means when someone's location is live.

What Does Live Mean on Find My iPhone?

Have you been wondering what "Live" means on Find My iPhone? The Find My app allows you to share your location with friends and have them share their location with you. Let's get into the details of Find My Live tracking.

In the Find My app on Apple devices, you will find a small caption that says "Live" underneath contacts who are sharing their locations with you. What does Live Location mean on the iPhone? The live feature will allow you to see the other person's location in real-time without having to refresh the app. This means you will be able to watch your family or friends as they run errands or find them easily if you are at a busy festival or big mall together. This is an excellent feature, especially if you have children who enjoy playing outside or roaming around with friends. If you like tips about using your Apple devices, be sure to sign up for our free Tip of the Day!

How to See Live Location on Find My

Before you can see someone's live location on Apple's Find My app, you need to have shared your location with the contact, have them accept, and then share their location with you. To do this, read through our article on how to share your location with Find My. Once you have shared your location with friends or family, and they have shared theirs with you, proceed to the steps below.

On your iPhone, open the Find My app.
Tap People in the bottom left.
Tap the person's name you want to track.
From here, you will notice the small "Live" caption under the person's name and address of the location. You will be able to watch as the contact moves on the map.

How to Enable Live Location in Settings

Having trouble seeing your friends' Live Locations? Before you can see a contact's Live Location in the Find My app, you'll need to make sure that all the proper settings are enabled on your iPhone. Most of these settings are on by default, but if you're having trouble, go through these steps to ensure everything necessary is enabled.

Open the Settings app to make sure you have Live Locations sharing enabled.
Tap Privacy & Security.
Tap Location Services.
Toggle Location Services on. It will be green and to the right when enabled.
Next, go back to Settings and tap your Apple ID.
Tap Find My.
Toggle Share My Location on. It will be green and to the right when enabled.
Then, tap Find My iPhone.
Toggle Find My iPhone on. It will be green when enabled.
Now, go back to Settings again and reopen Privacy & Security.
Tap Location Services again.
Scroll down and tap Find My.
Choose While Using the App.
Then, toggle on Precise Location. It will be green and to the right when enabled.
Lastly, open the Find My app.
Tap Me in the bottom right.
Toggle Share My Location on. It will be green when enabled.

Pro Tip: Find My Live v.s. Now

If you see the word "Now" displayed, it means that it is not currently tracking the contact's location. It is showing you the last known location of your contact, and you will not be able to see them as they move. This is usually due to slow connectivity issues on either end of the GPS. Usually, it will update automatically and fairly quickly once it regains the connection.

Find My Live vs Now

Now you should be able to see your friends' Live Locations, so long as you have a good connection and both of you are sharing locations. If you no longer want someone to have access to your location, you can stop sharing location without notifying in iMessage. Next, find out how to return a lost iPhone to its owner.

FAQ

Does live location mean they are using their phone? Live location does not necessarily mean the other person is using their phone. It just means that their phone is updating their location in real-time.
What does no location found mean? If you see a "No location found" message in Find My, this can mean either that location services are turned off for the other person's device or that they disabled Find My. You might also see "No location found" if a device hasn't connected to the Find My network in a long time. If you are having trouble seeing the locations of friends or family, check out our article on improving Find My accuracy.
Why is Find My iPhone not working? Find My depends on GPS and a cellular connection, so if your connection is weak, your iPhone will have a harder time reporting its location. Check out our article on what to do if Find My is not working for more details.
What does the green circle around location mean on Find My iPhone? If there is a pulsing green circle around your contact's location, that is another indicator that you are live-tracking your friend's location. You will be able to see their approximate movements outlined by that pulsing green circle.

Top image credit: Amguy13 / Shutterstock.com