Find my iPhone uses location services, but I didn't activate it

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Level 1

12 points

Find my iPhone uses location services, but I didn't activate it

After upgrading to iOS 15 on my iPhone SE 1st gen, there has been a location services icon in the status bar almost constantly. For the most part it's hollow, but every now and then it's filled for a short while. According to location services in settings, Find my iPhone is the only service that has used location services recently. However, I use location services very sparingly and I haven't used any such app or service for the last 24 hours.

In settings, the icon next to "Find my iPhone" is mostly a hollow arrow, meaning that "an item may receive your location under certain conditions". What does that mean? I have apps that only use location services under the condition that I open the app, but there is no hollow arrow next to them.

I had a similar issue about two years ago where Find my iPhone made a location icon appear in the status bar. I contacted Apple support and I think they said that it was nothing to worry about and it shouldn't be someone hacking my account because I use 2FA. But now it's happening again and it's a bit irritating, if not discomforting.

So basically, Find my iPhone uses my location without me asking for it. What to do?

iPhone SE, iOS 15

Posted on Oct 12, 2021 8:21 AM

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Answer 1

tgok23

Community Specialist

Oct 13, 2021 9:20 AM in response to Agroz229

Hello, and welcome to Apple Support Communities Agroz229,

We can see from your post that you have questions regarding using Find My and Location Services.

Please check this out: Locate a device in Find My on iPhone. This is part of the iPhone User Guide and explains using Find My iPhone and how important it is to locate a missing or stolen device. It uses Location Services. If Find My iPhone is not enabled, there wouldn't be a way to locate your device and this is enabled as part of the System Services.

To learn more about Location Services: Legal - Data & Privacy. This explains so much and is good to look over to allow you to decide how you want to use your iPhone.

We hope this helps!

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Answer 2

tgok23

Community Specialist

Oct 19, 2021 5:30 AM in response to Agroz229

Agroz229,

We want to make sure to answer your questions to the best of our ability.

The purpose of collecting the data for the Find My app is for the use of the app itself. You've seen that the Find My app does connect with your iPhone. It pings it for its location. If you're iPhone is lost or stolen, it helps you find the last known location. The guide we provided lets you know this " If the device is offline, you see the location of the device the last time it went online or connected to the Find My network." So in this aspect, you're correct.

To answer your other question, we'd like to guide you here: Legal - Apple Privacy Policy. This goes through Apple's Privacy Policy and should address your concerns. If it doesn't, you can review the section "Privacy Questions" as there are specific ways to contact Apple to ask these questions whether contacting Apple Support or going to the website apple.com/legal/privacy/contact

Take care!

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Answer 3

Agroz229 Author

Level 1

12 points

Oct 18, 2021 7:17 AM in response to tgok23

Hi, thank you for your answer. Unfortunately the resources you provided couldn't answer my question.

Most importantly, what I want to know is this:

Find my iPhone collects my location data in the background several times a day, even though I haven't requested to actually find my iPhone. What is the purpose of collecting my location data like this and how is Apple using it? Is the data stored on my phone or sent to Apple?

I'm just guessing but does it have to do with saving my last known location, so that I can find my phone even if it went offline before I started Find my iPhone? Or is there another reason?

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Find my iPhone uses location services, but I didn't activate it

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