Stolen Apple Watch location off, Family Sharing help?

Hi, my daughter's apple watch was stolen yesterday, we've been trying to get the location of it but it says the location services are off for the watch but they shouldn't be as her location is always shared between me and my husband. Whoever took it must have turned it off because we put it into "lost mode" and if I try to request a ping or anything, her phone tells me "it will be enabled when online". I have the box checked to notify me via email if the watch is found. Since she has parental controls on her phone, shouldn't we be able to control all of this through the phone that is set to be the creator of our family group? I don't understand why her location services aren't on for her watch when her phone is set to share with family always. Is there anyway to find her watch or change the location settings through her phone or parent phone? Her phone and watch are connected via voice. Parent/creator phone is my husband's iPhone 15 pro (I believe), her phone location is also connected and shares to my iPad gen 8 (I personally use an android for my phone). Daughter's phone is iPhone 13 pro, watch model is Apple Watch SE. Any help is very much appreciated to help finding my daughters watch! Thank you!!

Posted on Mar 4, 2026 1:00 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Mar 4, 2026 3:55 PM

MeltdownManager wrote:

Hi, my daughter's apple watch was stolen yesterday, we've been trying to get the location of it but it says the location services are off for the watch but they shouldn't be as her location is always shared between me and my husband. Whoever took it must have turned it off because we put it into "lost mode" and if I try to request a ping or anything, her phone tells me "it will be enabled when online". I have the box checked to notify me via email if the watch is found. Since she has parental controls on her phone, shouldn't we be able to control all of this through the phone that is set to be the creator of our family group? I don't understand why her location services aren't on for her watch when her phone is set to share with family always. Is there anyway to find her watch or change the location settings through her phone or parent phone? Her phone and watch are connected via voice. Parent/creator phone is my husband's iPhone 15 pro (I believe), her phone location is also connected and shares to my iPad gen 8 (I personally use an android for my phone). Daughter's phone is iPhone 13 pro, watch model is Apple Watch SE. Any help is very much appreciated to help finding my daughters watch! Thank you!!

None of that will work, when a watch is powered OFF.

Read here https://support.apple.com/en-us/101558

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2 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Mar 4, 2026 3:55 PM in response to MeltdownManager

MeltdownManager wrote:

Hi, my daughter's apple watch was stolen yesterday, we've been trying to get the location of it but it says the location services are off for the watch but they shouldn't be as her location is always shared between me and my husband. Whoever took it must have turned it off because we put it into "lost mode" and if I try to request a ping or anything, her phone tells me "it will be enabled when online". I have the box checked to notify me via email if the watch is found. Since she has parental controls on her phone, shouldn't we be able to control all of this through the phone that is set to be the creator of our family group? I don't understand why her location services aren't on for her watch when her phone is set to share with family always. Is there anyway to find her watch or change the location settings through her phone or parent phone? Her phone and watch are connected via voice. Parent/creator phone is my husband's iPhone 15 pro (I believe), her phone location is also connected and shares to my iPad gen 8 (I personally use an android for my phone). Daughter's phone is iPhone 13 pro, watch model is Apple Watch SE. Any help is very much appreciated to help finding my daughters watch! Thank you!!

None of that will work, when a watch is powered OFF.

Read here https://support.apple.com/en-us/101558

Stolen Apple Watch location off, Family Sharing help?

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