I bought an AirTag, now my iPhone uses location services every 5 minutes.

Question

Level 1

8 points

I bought an AirTag, now my iPhone uses location services every 5 minutes.

I got an AirTag and now Find My is using location services every 5 minutes.

My old dog is deaf and half-blind, so I got him an AirTag and a collar designed to hold it. Now the Find My location service on my iPhone 15PM is checking my location CONSTANTLY. Every 5 minutes is not an exaggeration at all, if anything it’s more often than that.

This has never been a problem with my AirPods, what’s going on?? The impact on the phone battery isn’t even that bad, but it’s unnecessary and drives me nuts when I see that arrow in the corner pop up over and over again.

I’m considering turning location services for Find My off, then if he gets lost I’ll just turn it back on to find him. But that means I won’t be able to find my phone if I ever lose it. 🙃 Any help would be greatly appreciated.

iPhone 15 Pro Max, iOS 17

Posted on Nov 5, 2023 11:16 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Tesserax

Level 10

162,112 points

Nov 6, 2023 9:22 AM in response to nick4onelove

An Apple AirTag works by broadcasting a Bluetooth signal every 3 to 5 mins to save its battery life. Any iPhone, not just yours, within its Bluetooth range, will receive that signal, and if the phone is currently connected to the Internet, it will relay that location information to the Apple servers. This is where you would "see" it in the Find My app.

In addition, by default, your phone is actively participating in the Apple "Find My Network." That means, any AirTag near you will be "found" by your phone. This is how it is designed to work.

One option, is not to disable Location Services, but just to disable the "Find My Network" option on your phone, which you will find under Settings > Apple ID > Find My

Reply

Answer 2

nick4onelove Author

Level 1

8 points

Nov 6, 2023 7:23 PM in response to Tesserax

That helped a lot, thanks so much! Although now I feel guilty that I’m not helping other people find their stuff. Anyway, very much appreciated!

Reply

I bought an AirTag, now my iPhone uses location services every 5 minutes.

Similar questions