Apple Watch SE GEN 2 - Problems Setting up "Find My"

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Apple Watch SE GEN 2 - Problems Setting up "Find My"

So we got an Apple Watch for my kid. Obviously one of the major features we'd like to use is "Find My" for keeping track of his location.

When I launch the Find My app on my iPhone, his watch shows up as a device but it says "no location found".

I've gone through all the watch's settings and turned on anything to do with allowing location sharing and so forth, as well as anything I could find in the watch application. No dice.

Here are some additional facts:

1) Watch is not paired to my phone, it's on my wife's Verizon plan so it's paired to hers; I have a corporate plan so as far as I know I can't set up the proper cellular plan from my phone during pairing.

2) I transferred the Apple ID (my son's) over to the Family Share on my phone after the watch was paired. Wife's phone is NOT part of my phone's "family".

3) Does not show up on "Find my watch" on my wife's phone

4) Phone has a separate phone number from wife's phone (not number-sharing).

Any ideas of why my son's watch won't show up on either phone's "Find My" app? I suspect it has something to do with it being paired to my wife's phone who is not location sharing or part of my "Family" and the Watch's Apple ID being associated with MY phone's Family Share; somewhere in there the location is getting lost.

Literally the only way I can track the watch's location is to log into iCloud on a web browser with the watch's apple ID and track it there. This not optimal, would like to use the "Find My" app on MY phone for this.

Apple Watch SE

Posted on Dec 28, 2022 11:25 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Chris_V89

Community Specialist

Dec 29, 2022 11:23 AM in response to garrick272

Hey there garrick272,

Thanks for reaching out to the Apple Support Communities. Based on the information you've provided, it is likely that the issue may be due to the Apple Watch being set up with your wife's iPhone which is not part of the Family Sharing group. This is because location sharing would require the device to be part of the Family Sharing group.

With the steps that you've already tried, the best option may be to try adding your wife to the Family Sharing group, and have them share their location with the following steps: Share your location with your family - Apple Support

Share your location with a family member

You can share your location in Settings or the Find My app, and you can stop sharing your location at any time.

If you already set up a Family Sharing group

In iOS 16 or iPadOS 16 or later:

1. On your iPhone or iPad, go to Settings.

2. Tap Family.

3. Tap Location Sharing.

4. Under Share Your Location With, tap to choose which family members to share your location with.

If you're able to see your son's Apple Watch location in the Find My app on your iPhone when your wife is part of the Family Sharing group, then it's likely your wife would need to stay in the Family Sharing group, or the Apple Watch would need to be set up using a different device that is already in the group.

Let us know if that's able to help.

Take care.

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