Find my Friends doesn't work after IOS 7 update

We use find my friends for our entire family to monitor kids locations, etc. Since updating to IOS 7, one of the phones only shows it's location sporadically - otherwise says location not available.


Have verified location services are turned on, nothing is blocked, etc.


This phone was updated to IOS 7 over wifi (vs. through iTunes) - one other phone had some minor (unrelated) issues after updating over wifi that were resolved by doing a factory reset & updating from iTunes - wondering if that could be cause of the issue here as well. Anyone else encountering issues with FMF?

iPhone 5, iOS 7

Posted on Sep 20, 2013 9:15 AM

166 replies

Sep 26, 2013 3:12 PM in response to Community User

I was just reading all of the great recent reviews... On August 22nd a lady posted that she was experiencing the same problems that most of us are experiencing now. Find My Friends had an update on Aug. 22nd think that's a coincidence? I'm really hoping its an easy fix such as location request permissions. This app is a deal breaker for me as my whole family uses this app for various different reasons. Some are for a peace of mind others are for security reasons. I got my grandmother an iPhone just so I would know where she is. She has recently been diagnosed with mild dementia. She has called me before lost and I can open the app and see where she is and drive to her or tell her where to go. If FMF doesn't get fixed I'll have to go elsewhere.

Sep 26, 2013 4:29 PM in response to SeptemberC

SeptemberC,


the FMF app was broken during the developer previews program (the beta testing phase from june to september). So it's related to that update, but among many other updates which were buggy.


May I recommend Life360, an app which will emulate FMF's basic functionalities? I had to use this during the summer, on my beta iOS 7, to link with my wife's iOS 6 through FMF.


Life360 requires a bit of tweaking a first, and needs to be run in the background if I remember correctly, but it does both what FMF does, *and* Google Latitude (now retired, much to my irritation).


The free version should be enough for you and your significant others such as your grandmother. Make sure to test the settings you have running on it before leaving her with the app on the phone.


FYI, I (prematurely) deleted Life360 only *because* I thought that the official release of iOS 7 would re-enable a fully functional FMF. How wrong I was...


Peace out.

Sep 26, 2013 7:36 PM in response to Community User

POSSIBLE SOLUTION

(or at least something that some people may have overlooked)


In iOS 7, if Find My Friends is working for you WHEN THE APP IS RUNNING, i.e. you can see the Locations of family members and they can see you as long as everyone has the App running, BUT it doesn't work once the App is closed (or wasn't launched since the last restart,) then check the following:


Make sure the app is listed in Background App Refresh under Settings > General ... In my case the FMF App was NOT listed there. I chatted at length with an Apple Support Rep trying various things (reboots, Airplane Mode on and off, etc.) She was unable to explain to me how Apps qualify to show up in that list, or how to get an App onto the list. What finally worked for me was DELETING the Find My Friends App and then reinstalling it from the App Store (Purchases.) It then showed up in the Background App Refresh List, I confirmed it was turned On, and FMF instantly started working as expected! I was afraid I would have to re-enter Follower information or re-send Invitations to Friends after reinstalling, but those settings were retained.


Note: I also happened to update to iOS 7.0.2 earlier today, so I'm not sure if that mattered or not.


Find My Friends also MUST be listed under Settings > Privacy > Location Services, and must be turned On, obviously.


When upgrading an iPhone there are lots of things to do, so it's easy to answer a screen prompt about Location Services or Background App Refresh the "incorrect" way (at least incorrect with respect to Find My Friends working properly.) Sometimes it's not easy to go back and find the specific Setting where that function is adjusted...


I hope this information helps other families get FMF working for their devices. Ours are all now working reliably.

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Find my Friends doesn't work after IOS 7 update

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