Location services/ significant locations

The only solution I can find is to find someone with macOS Big Sur (or downgrade your own system; creating a virtual machine in Parallels Desktop - free trial - is also possible) or earlier and create an account on their computer and log in to your Apple ID. System preferences -> Security & Privacy -> Privacy tab -> System Services -> Details. Should be there. Worked on my new Big Sur install. Let me know if it works for you.

My Monterey Machine doesn't work. So Apple purposefully removed it. I'm all for privacy, and I get how the feature can be abused by nasty relatives and so forth, but if you are going to remove something like this, you **** well better tell people in big flashing letters.

Friends, I don't think this "feature" is ever coming back. It gives away personal information and Apple is working hard to prevent personal information from getting out. The only workaround is to use an older (pre macOS-15) version of the OS and hope you can get the data there.

Another alternative is third party apps.

I don't see how the info (that's in the cloud anyway because I can see it on my Mac running Big Sur) gives away personal information. To who exactly? It's in my secure iCloud. 

I go online and find that you can do location history with the Google Maps app. I have not tried that though. Do you know of third party apps? I don't want to put Google Maps on my iPhone because they don't play nice together in the car...

If I did not update the iPhone to OS15 and was still on OS14 it would be working. 

End-to-end encrypted:

From the Apple website:

Significant Locations: Your iPhone and iCloud-connected devices will keep track of places you have recently been, as well as how often and when you visited them, in order to learn places that are significant to you. This data is end-to-end encrypted and cannot be read by Apple. It is used to provide you with personalized services, such as predictive traffic routing, and to build better Memories in Photos.

@Tommycz - I understand. But the location information in your phone can be viewed unencrypted.

People have been using this "feature" to track their kids, spouses, and lovers. So it could be seen as a security liability for Apple. Not that they've advertised it this way, but IMHO, I would be surprised if the "feature" ever returned.

My reason for this opinion is the recent removal of Child Sexual Abuse Material features. Apple was roundly criticized for comparing on-phone images to those in the CSAM database. In this case, no actual data was shared. Only "hashes" of images were shared. But the backlash was so significant that they removed all mention of it from their site.

https://www.iphoneincanada.ca/news/apple-child-safety-csam/#:~:text=As%20noted%20by%20MacRumors%2C%20Apple,significant%20criticism%20of%20its%20methods.

So, it's my opinion that Apple will not allow anyone access to the "Significant Locations" under any circumstances. Now, or in the future, due to the security implications.

So if I'm understanding you correctly the only way someone can view the information is if they have access to my phone?

So someone would have to steal my phone and know how to unlock it. I don't understand how my encrypted iCloud information or my locked phone can be accessed without my allowing it.

again, friend, *in my humble opinion*, people with access to a phone may include parents of children, spouses, and lovers. if you share an icloud accont, the data is visible on the phone. ipad. and mac.

this is a security loophole on par with (i might argue greater than) CSAM.

i feel your pain and frustration. i needed that data in a personal crisis myself. i dont necessarily agree with the reasoning.

but i do not expect this "feature" to returrn and i will use a third party solution in its place.

Thanks for your answer. I'm looking through third party apps now but they are mostly for tracking employees. I just want to track my personal work time on various job sites for accurate billing hours and jobs.

Any suggestions would be very helpful.

There is an App called Hours Tracker; but, it requires you to put in all your clients to track time and you have to set it up for auto log in / out. When you have a lot of clients in the same area this becomes difficult to manage.

does this app transfer the data from significant locations, as I need to see the previous which is on there and don’t want to buy the app if it won’t transfer the data already collected? Or does it just track from when the app is downloaded?

thank you

I’m having the exact same problem, and I have an older model iPhone (7+).

I tried turning off location services, turning off the phone and then restarting it. That didn’t change anything. Looks like it’s an issue Apple needs to fix, and I hope they do it soon!

I am having this issue too. Is there an answer?

I also lost access to view my previous locations since last update. I hope apple fixes this issue soon

This lost option is a deal breaker for me as it was a way for me to invoice my moving on the job I need to see my history ASAP

Same here, my wife thought I deleted my track because I’m hiding something......OMG. Apple better fixes this ASAP.