We used to be able to allow others to see my location on find my, when surfing etc and away from phone. It looks like this is no longer an option.
not good.
[Re-Titled by Moderator]
Original Title: Ultra 3 no longer broadcasts location when away from phone.
I just tried that. Left my phone at home, drove to my parents and checked their iPhone if they can locate me on my watch.
Turns out they can see my iPhone left at home, but I didn't share my watch location with them.
So I opened the "Find People" app on my watch, taped on "Me", then on the name of the family member -> share location and selected the name from the contact list.
After that my Apple Watch was visible in the "Find My" app on their iPhone under "Devices -> "Ingo's Devices"
This worked on their Wi-Fi network and without the Wi-Fi enabled on my watch, connected to LTE
Since this happened to you on your brand new 11 and Ultra 3 Series, this might also be related to the software on these watches, if you have no restrictions set up.
I just tried that. Left my phone at home, drove to my parents and checked their iPhone if they can locate me on my watch.
Turns out they can see my iPhone left at home, but I didn't share my watch location with them.
So I opened the "Find People" app on my watch, taped on "Me", then on the name of the family member -> share location and selected the name from the contact list.
After that my Apple Watch was visible in the "Find My" app on their iPhone under "Devices -> "Ingo's Devices"
This worked on their Wi-Fi network and without the Wi-Fi enabled on my watch, connected to LTE
Since this happened to you on your brand new 11 and Ultra 3 Series, this might also be related to the software on these watches, if you have no restrictions set up.
Gorgetele wrote:
Running the same on Ultra 3 and 11, following the same pathway the toggle is no longer there, and pressing the Send From label does nothing. Might be interesting to turn your phone off and let us know if you can be located on Find My by others via your watch.
are both watches cellular models with a paid-for plan?
So both my GF and I have been on the phone with Apple support as her 11 is doing the same. At this point it appears that the ability to broadcast your location from your watch when you are out of range of your phone is no longer an option. One can no longer toggle from which device you want to be found on. This used to be an option. Currently, it says your location will be broadcast from your phone and watch, but this is not happening.
Apple support tried everything on both of our watches, and no luck. I found a post from Dec 2024 saying the same from a woman who was no longer able to track her dad from his watch when he was away from his phone. I think this is a software issue that's either intentional--save battery life--or incidental. Big bummer for us as we rely on this former feature when sailing, or backcountry skiing.
Did you already check the settings on your Apple Watch?
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copied from: Find friends and share your location with Find My - Apple Support
Also make sure that your watch is connected to a cellular network during this time.
Running the same on Ultra 3 and 11, following the same pathway the toggle is no longer there, and pressing the Send From label does nothing. Might be interesting to turn your phone off and let us know if you can be located on Find My by others via your watch.
On my Ultra 2, running watchOS 26.0.2, the option is still available and active in the settings for the app "Find People"
Apple Watch Ultra 3 no longer broadcasts location when away from my iPhone
