Find my IPhone constantly tracking on | iOS 14

It may not be a “bug” but it certainly behaves differently in iOS 14 than in previous versions. That’s the concern here.

In iOS 14 it frequently queries your location. In previous iOS versions, it would only query your location if you were actively using Find my iPhone. make sense?

As soon as I upgraded to iOS 14.3, I noticed this arrow appearing tirelessly next to the watch. After discussing such a problem on the MacRumors forum, we are on iOS 14.5 and Find My iPhone continues to access GPS frequently. I disable Find My iPhone for a long time, but I'm afraid they robbed my device and couldn't find it. I'm already beginning to think it's not really a bug. The device must only be accessing the cellular network or WiFi data to capture some information. I can't believe he can access the GPS itself.

Who is “he” who can access the GPS itself? Find My uses GPS when outdoors, nearby known Wi-Fi hotspots and cell tower triangulation to identify the location of the phone. With 14 Apple added an additional way: crowdsourced location tracking using Bluetooth (the same way the popular Tile app and Tiles work).

I don't think anyone is saying that your explanation is wrong. I've noticed that the location arrow comes on a lot. It's basically the only thing that pops up multiple times in an hour, at least for me. Now whether it causes discernible battery drain is something I'd have to test.

I don't think the person who turned off location services and gained battery life is wrong to point the finger at location services draining his battery. If it's coming on multiple times in an hour, it's going to drain battery. It may be a minor amount, but it may not. If that's the only variable that is being switched off and all other things remain the same, I find the assumption that location services is causing the battery drain is valid.

The thing is... system location services doesn't pop up as it's own service in the Battery section of settings. So how would you really know if it's not draining battery? The answer is you don't because it isn't listed as something that is able to be shown in the first place. Every single app shows up in the Battery, yet system services does not. Unless you can tell me what category it falls under?

Here's a proposal for Apple developers. How about you guys add a user selectable query time for Find My to activate? Poll every hour? Let the user decide.

stuckonduhmode wrote:

Yeah, I know they don't read forums for suggestions. I'm just putting my thoughts out there. The likelihood they'll implement it is unlikely anyway.

Just because a feature is useful, doesn't mean it can't be improved upon. If I'm using the phone, I know where it is, so I don't need it to be constantly polling my location for no reason.

Yes, if you are using the phone you know where it is. When you lose the phone, if the phone doesn’t know where it is it can’t tell you. You are asking an awful lot if you think that the phone should know that you are holding it and not someone else.

f it makes it to the end of the day without charging that is optimal use of the energy in the battery.

Well, that entirely depends on how you use your phone. I'd say if the phone makes it to the end of the day with very light usage and ends up with 50% battery, it is not optimal. Hence the point of having battery statistics so you can check to see if there are any apps going rogue sending/receiving data and draining battery.

The phone is designed to operate for a day between charges. That is the design goal. If you expect it to last longer than that an iPhone is not for you. Get a phone that will last longer than a day. Except there are none. It’s an engineering tradeoff that all manufacturers make between battery capacity, which involves calculations of size, weight, how powerful the phone should be, its range for communications, and several other factors. Another alternative if you want it to last longer than a day is to add a case that contains a battery. This will make the phone heavier and bulkier, but it will last longer between charges for you without the added burden of the heavier weight and size that the rest of us don’t want.

Check your keyboard settings, because you can switch the double-tap for (.) on or off there. One of the gremlins might have switched it off in there. Hope this gets it back for you (the feature is still there in iOS 14 I promise)

Because “find my” in the past was not a tracking history service

but a permission to ping the device and than the device would report the location after you requested from a find my app/iCloud website after you authenticate yourself.

now it has 2 issues

1st issue is that it is always tracking you killing you battery faster which means there will be more cycles on you battery therefore your battery will have to be replaced more frequently, which means more ewaste.

2nd issue is that Apple is now collecting a lot more data on individuals habits and daily routes. Which could be sold or hacked and exploited to compromise individuals privacy. So far Apple has been good with privacy but there is nothing to stop them from being a Facebook level of anti-trust use of our data. Just their word that they will not.

IisBatman wrote:

Because “find my” in the past was not a tracking history service

but a permission to ping the device and than the device would report the location after you requested from a find my app/iCloud website after you authenticate yourself.

now it has 2 issues

1st issue is that it is always tracking you killing you battery faster which means there will be more cycles on you battery therefore your battery will have to be replaced more frequently, which means more ewaste.

2nd issue is that Apple is now collecting a lot more data on individuals habits and daily routes. Which could be sold or hacked and exploited to compromise individuals privacy. So far Apple has been good with privacy but there is nothing to stop them from being a Facebook level of anti-trust use of our data. Just their word that they will not.

WRONG. They are NON-ISSUES. It uses minimal energy. My iPhone has the same battery life that it did before the update.

Apple does not collect any data on individual habits and daily routes. All of the collected information is owned by you, and is not accessible by Apple. Here is Apple’s privacy policy, which explains this:https://www.apple.com/privacy/

If you don’t believe what Apple has stated in their privacy policy, clearly, you would be foolish to use any Apple product. If they are lying about their privacy policy, what else might they be lying about?

I believe that the arrow not only appears when the device is using GPS and identifying its location, but also when it accesses WiFi information that is connected and information from the 3G/4G network that is connected, making the triangulation to know where you are without greater accuracy. Only when you access Find My do it go after a more accurate location.

IT IS NOT A BUG, it is the way it is designed to work. And Location Services does not use measurable energy.

@Lawrence I have an iPhone X with iOS 14 with no such issue. But iPhone 12 works otherwise.

if you are one of the fans believes in leaving all location services ON than its a different story.

The feature is to request the location as needed. Not to keep uploading your location to server all the time. (lol)

Developers need to keep fix the bug, this money going for new phones is no Android.

PS - Not being rude but need to understand the logic why it works fine on one device over the other.

That’s not the way it works, but as you clearly know better there’s no point in further discussion. But consider this: When you can’t connect to the device that has Find My enabled it will tell you where it was the last time it was visible. How does it do that? No one queried it to get that information.

Hey there, I’ve done that step but there is no way to set find my iPhone to while it is using as it’s either on or off.

I have reset the network as well, and contents but it continues to happen

any advice?

thanks

No, that was NOT the point I was making (not trying to make). My point is that if Find My doesn’t use location services you can’t use it to locate your phone. Isn’t that pretty obvious? As only people you authorize to track you can see your location it is not a privacy issue. There are many really serious privacy issues, however, and, if you are concerned about them you should not use any cell phone (or drive a car, or go into any malls or large stores). And you should ALWAYS wear a mask.

• Your carrier knows the location of your phone (all cell phones, regardless of type or make) all the time, even if you turn off location services, because it can triangulate from the towers that receive your phone’s periodic “I’m here” ping. They are required by law to do this to support E911. They upload this information to databases where your location and whereabouts are known to law enforcement and any business that cares to know where you are.
• License plate scanners are ubiquitous, in police vehicles and repo trucks. And also along limited access highways, toll roads, bridges and tunnels. And every time your plate is scanned it goes into a location database.
• Electronic toll tags are obviously used every time you use a toll facility, but transponders are located everywhere along highways for traffic control. Have you see signs that display how long it will take to get to an upcoming milepost? Where do you think they get that information?
• Do you use public Wi-Fi, your cable provider’s hotspots or the “free” convenient Wi-Fi networks in malls and stores? Did you think that your location wasn’t tracked by those?
• See those cameras in stores, malls and other public places? Have you heard about facial recognition?
• Did you ever post your picture in Shutterfly? The entire Shutterfly database of faces is now online for anyone who wants to use it along with names.
• Do you have a Transit Pass account?
• Do you use an urban bicycle rental like New York’s CitiBike? Have you noticed that your usage history shows the location and time you picked up the bike and likewise when you dropped it off?
• Do you use credit cards in stores? Did you know that the location where you use a card is recorded in a worldwide central database, ostensibly to detect card fraud through what’s called a “velocity check” (AKA as the “superman test”)?
• Have you heard of iBeacon? It’s a feature that tracks and reports the location of any device that has Bluetooth enabled on a device. It’s found mostly in malls and large stores.

Apple is about the only business in the world that does NOT track you.