Apple Watch Series 8 GPS and LTE Location Sharing Issue

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Level 1

4 points

Apple Watch Series 8 GPS and LTE Location Sharing Issue

Hi,

We’ve set up an Apple Watch for our daughter to be able to track her on the bus to and from school. It’s in her backpack so she is not wearing it during the trip. We are on the Telus network. This worked fine for the first couple week but recently we’ve noticed that the watches location takes 15-30 minutes to update in Find My People. Oddly at the same time Find My Devices for the same watch that is updating Find My People isn’t showing an update at all. For example currently the People shows last location 30 minutes ago but Device shows last location 3 hrs ago.

I have tried everything from latest updated to resetting the device. I’ve also checked all the location and privacy settings as well. It seems to only go “live” for a bit after I have gone through Find My on the watch so it know to share location. This morning I made sure it was working fine updating to “now” status all the way till she got to school then it stopped updating and is doing the above again.

Any help would be appreciated as we bought this to ensure she is safe and to know where the bus is but it’s refreshing slower than AirTags.

thanks

Posted on Oct 24, 2024 9:12 AM

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Answer 1

Ingo2711

Level 9

74,061 points

Oct 25, 2024 9:34 AM in response to Xpresspost19

The location of the watch will also be transmitted by other iOS devices nearby, if they can establish a Bluetooth connection.

And, sharing the location has to be enabled on the watch in "Find my"/ Me tab/ -> Use this device as my location.

...

Note: To share your location from another device, open Find My on the device and change your location to that device. If you share your location from an iPhone that’s paired with Apple Watch (GPS + Cellular models), your location is shared from your Apple Watch when you’re out of range of your iPhone and Apple Watch is on your wrist.

...

copied from: Share your location in Find My on iPhone - Apple Support

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Answer 2

Ingo2711

Level 9

74,061 points

Oct 29, 2024 1:27 AM in response to Xpresspost19

On my watch in Settings/Privacy/Location Services, "Share My Location" is enabled, without that, you can not locate the watch. I also enabled "Find my Network", so that nearby devices can help to locate the watch if it is lost.

The apps below that have individual settings for sharing the location of the watch. For example "Finding People" will only share the location if it it used on the watch, same for the Weather app.

The settings on the iPhone for location services will also affect the settings on the watch.

Finding people is not the same as finding devices.

Share locations with family members and locate their lost devices on iPhone - Apple Support

Set up Apple Watch for a family member - Apple Support

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Answer 3

Xpresspost19 Author

Level 1

4 points

Oct 24, 2024 12:19 PM in response to Ingo2711

We’re holding it as a Christmas present so she doesn’t know about it. That’s why it’s in her backpack lol

its been working up till this point. It was also working last night in my pouch as I was testing it out again. Wouldn’t it need to be able to update it location while it’s on in the even it’s been lost?

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Answer 4

Xpresspost19 Author

Level 1

4 points

Oct 25, 2024 4:44 AM in response to Xpresspost19

A quick update. I updated to iOS 11 on the watch yesterday and double check the privacy -> location services -> find my people and it’s set as “ask or when I share”. It was working fine last night but again this morning it’s not updating consistently. I’ve noticed when I’m in proximity of the watch it’ll update regularly but the moment I’m not in proximity it goes back to updating every 20-30 min. None of this makes sense to me given that the watch is on LTE.

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Answer 5

Xpresspost19 Author

Level 1

4 points

Oct 28, 2024 6:07 PM in response to Xpresspost19

I believe I figured out what is wrong but I can’t find a way to fix it or why this is happening.

In the watch under Settings -> Privacy -> Location Services -> Find My People

I have this set as “Ask/When I Share”

This will work for a couple days as I have shared the location through the Find My People app on the watch.

After a couple days I’ll notice it’ll stop updating live again. When I go into the Find My People app on the watch it asks me to allow Location Services to share “Allow Once” “Allow While Using App” and “Do Not Allow” as the options.

None of these options are right so I have to back to Settings -> Privacy -> Location Services -> Find My People to change it back to “Ask/When I Share”

So my questions are:

1) Why does this setting in the Watch randomly reset?

2) Why are the Settings in Location Services different than then prompt in the Find My People App?

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Answer 6

Ingo2711

Level 9

74,061 points

Oct 24, 2024 11:12 AM in response to Xpresspost19

Can you locate your daughter if she is wearing the watch?

As far as I remember, a person will have to wear the watch, to be able to see a live location.

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