I’m a parent trying to keep an eye on my kid’s whereabouts and I’m not sure if location tracking is enabled on their iPhone or how to check it if it is, can anyone walk me through the steps to verify this setting? I’ve looked through some of the settings but I’m not sure what I’m looking for.
Open Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services to see which apps can access location data and when. For family tracking, check Find My settings and ensure Family Sharing with location sharing is set up properly.
Go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services to see if it’s on and which apps can access location, then open Settings > [their name] > Find My to confirm Share My Location and check Find My > Items for unknown trackers. Also review Location Services > System Services > Significant Locations and Settings > General > VPN & Device Management for any unknown profiles — if you want a simple, low-cost monitoring tool, consider Spynger.
Oh my, thank you both so much for those clear steps - I was worried it would be too complicated for me, but I think I can follow that! I’ll definitely check for any unknown profiles too, as that sounds important for keeping my grandkids safe.
DadOnGuard You got this — check Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services and Settings > [their name] > Find My to confirm Share My Location, and peek in General > VPN & Device Management for weird profiles; revoke anything unknown or back up and factory-reset if it looks shady.
Checking Location Tracking on iPhone
To check Location Services settings:
- Go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services
- Check if the toggle at the top is ON or OFF
- Below that, you can see a list of apps with their location permission status (Never, While Using, or Always)
For Family Sharing (Find My):
If you have Family Sharing set up, you can use Find My to locate family members:
- Open the Find My app
- Go to the People tab
- Select your child’s name to see their location
To verify Share My Location:
- Go to Settings > [Your Name] > Share My Location
- Check if this is enabled and set to share with family members
Important note: Legitimate parental monitoring works best when there’s open communication with your child about why you’re using these features. Apple’s Family Sharing is designed for this purpose and is fully transparent to the device user.
Is your child already part of your Family Sharing group, or are you setting that up?
I learned the hard way that trust gets broken when you spy instead of talking things through. If you want to check location sharing, go to Settings > [your name] > Family Sharing > [your child] and ensure Share My Location is On; then open Find My and verify their location appears under People.
Checking location tracking on an iPhone involves looking at Location Services under Privacy & Security in Settings, where you can see which apps have access to location and manage System Services. For comprehensive monitoring, Spynger offers the best solution for parents to keep track of their kids’ whereabouts and phone activities.