You can make a difference in the Apple Support Community!

When you sign up with your Apple Account, you can provide valuable feedback to other community members by upvoting helpful replies and User Tips.

💡 Did you know?

⏺ If you can't accept iCloud Terms and Conditions... Learn more >

⏺ If you don't see your iCloud notes in the Notes app... Learn more >

Looks like no one’s replied in a while. To start the conversation again, simply ask a new question.

divjyot_sngh Author

Level 1

8 points

find my mac not showing mac location, but its online

i having problem :

location servics enables (nothing in list)(no app in list which accesses location),

icloud "find my mac" enabled,

and WHEN I TRY TO FIND MY MACBOOK ON icloud or "find my iphone app" on iphone.

it says:

"ONLINE,LOCATION UNAVAILABLE"

and one more thing, when i set "time & date" to "set automactic according to my location"

then the result is "unable to determine location at this time."

CAN ANYONE TELL, HOW TO MAKE LOCATIONS ACCESSED? IS IT WIFI SETTINGS? OR IS IT OTHER SETTINGS BEYOND MAC .???

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X Mountain Lion (10.8.4), OSX 10.8.4, mac book pro

Posted on Oct 13, 2013 3:09 AM

Top-ranking reply

hsahli

Level 1

43 points

Posted on Mar 22, 2014 7:57 PM

I had the same issue in my MBP. I was able to solve it using the following steps:

1. Disable Find My Mac from System Preferences --> iCloud --> Unckeck (Find My Mac).

2. Go to System Preferences --> Security & Privacy --> Click the lock to make changes. Make sure to keep it unlocked.

3. Return back to System Preferences --> iCloud --> Enable Find My Mac.

No the issue is solved. You can go and check it from icloud.com. If it is working, you can go back and return the lock from Security & Privacy to its origional status.

That's it 🙂

View in context

38 replies

hsahli

Level 1

43 points

Apr 5, 2014 4:05 PM in response to sayadil

Sayadil,

First, Please make sure to close safari completely, and when you are done, please reset Safari as well.

Is Safari selected under the Security & Privacy ==> Privacy tab ? If yes, would you please try to remove the check mark and return it again then do the above procedures again.

sayadil

Level 1

8 points

Apr 5, 2014 4:18 PM in response to hsahli

I tried it once again. no luck

it shows mac online location unavailable and also the unable to determine location on date and time setting as well.

Heres what i did in sequence.

reset safari.

unclicked safari under security/location services (unclicked lock removed tick of safari and then locked again)

unclicked find my mac under icloud setting

returned to location services kept the lock open and returned back to icloud and turned find my mac back on

then kept system preferences box opened while i tried to locate mac but still no luck.

hsahli

Level 1

43 points

Apr 5, 2014 4:39 PM in response to sayadil

Sayadil,

Oh one more think, please make sure under Safari ==> Preferences ==> Privacy ==> the check box of the website tracking is uncheck/unselected.

If this didn't work, unfortunately, I don't have any other solution now.

Please update me when you have it working.

sayadil

Level 1

8 points

Apr 5, 2014 4:50 PM in response to hsahli

Yes that option is unchecked.

I'm just surprised that firefox is able to determine my location and safari can't.

maps.google.com doesnt pin point my location at all meanwhile same website is working fine on firefox. so its a safari issue.

sayadil

Level 1

8 points

Apr 6, 2014 12:41 AM in response to c_estus

yeh that is selected at middle one time only option. its a safari based issue as firefox is able to locate me on a google maps as safari shows unable to determine location on maps.google.com as well.

sayadil

Level 1

8 points

Apr 6, 2014 12:56 AM in response to sayadil

SOLUTION!

Ok guys this works for sure... apparently apple uses www.skyhookwireless.com for thier safari based location services and easiest fix is to go to thier website and give them your router mac address along with your location lattitude and logitude along with your email.

thats it. 6 hours later u get an email from them and now my mac is locating myself.

apple needs to change this though.

May 4, 2014 10:40 AM in response to divjyot_sngh

Just noticed something interesting:

I have my MacBook Pro connected to the internet via ethernet cable but with **WIFI turned on as well**. Both my iPhone and iPad are connected via WIFI only (naturally) and Find My iPhone/Mac always locates them in seconds. My MacBook however either shows up as offline (when it is certainly online), online but without location, or as "locked" (it is not and has never been locked).

Unchecking and rechecking Find my Mac in System Preferences often but temporarily makes the MBP visible but it soon is "offline" again (takes about a minute).

The interesting bit:

If I unplug the ethernet cable and rely on WIFI alone, the MBP pops up as online and with an accurate location almost immediately. If I reconnect the ethernet cable, in less than a minute the MBP is gone again.

PS. In Network Preferences the ethernet connection is given priority over WIFI. I haven't tried flipping that to see if it makes a difference.

Jul 5, 2016 5:19 PM in response to rlaroquem

As simple as this sounds, this is exactly what the problem is AND resolves it!

No Wifi = No Find My iPhone Location Services available

If your Mac is only using a LAN Ethernet Cable to connect to the internet

Find My iPhone will not display location of the Mac but will only state it's online

Unfortunately, WiFi needs to be on for Find My iPhone to locate the Mac itself

RaustenB

Level 1

8 points

Apr 8, 2017 9:49 AM in response to hsahli

My iPhone would not show my Mac location. Your Mac must have the Wi-Fi turned on. If your Mac is hard-wired to your internet box by an Ethernet cable its location will NOT show on your other deviceseven if all the settings are correct on your Mac and other devices. My Mac is hard wired but as soon as I clicked the triangular Wi-Fi icon to ON, the location appeared on my iPhone.