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Disable phone from participating in finding Airtags

It’s a bit confusing to why you dont like the “Turn off Find My option” as its exactly what you’re are asking for.

Before Airtags, Macs and other devices were using other peoples devices for location.. So if you dont want to be part of it, just turn it off..

You cant not want to have the advantage of crowd sourcing and not be apart of it..
 
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Apple_Robert said:
The OP wants to use the Find My feature as it was originally intended (until AirTags) and that is fine with me. As I said, I don't think wanting to keep it for private use makes one selfish. Others here will disagree and that is fine.
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But they don't want to "keep if for private use". They want to still have Find My Network turned on so that other people can help them find their lost offline iPhone. That's the part that's selfish. It's wanting the benefit of other people's participation, without participating themselves.

If they want to turn it off, that's fine with me. That's not selfish. I don't care what their reason is. If it's valid for them, then fine.

They can disable it on their phone and hope when they lose their phone, it's always got a signal.
 
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Apple_Robert said:
Some here want to know the reason and then will try and shame the OP into feeling bad for not going with proverbial flow. Good on the OP for not bowing to any "peer pressure."
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Or, it could be perhaps the OP has a misunderstanding and people are just trying to help?
 
Does “Find My” pre airtag use other people’s devices to find your own devices? I thought to find your iPhone and iPad and Mac, it just used the location services of the respective device. And for AirPods, it used the last location when the AirPods was connected to a paired device?
 
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sxc said:
Does “Find My” pre airtag use other people’s devices to find your own devices? I thought to find your iPhone and iPad and Mac, it just used the location services of the respective device. And for AirPods, it used the last location when the AirPods was connected to a paired device?
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If your iPhone has a WiFi or mobile signal, and can get a GPS location, then yes, it will use the location services of the device to tell you where it is.

But if your phone is in a location that's not getting a good cell signal, other phone nearby that are, or connected to WiFi, would be able to update you on your phone's location.
 
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profmatt said:
Is there a way for me not to fund fire fighters, but still have them come to my house and rescue me if there is a fire?
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No, not really (in the USA anyway). If you own your home it's in your property taxes and if you rent it's charged to the landlord (which raises the rent).
 
Apple_Robert said:
The OP has stated he or she doesn't want give any reason outside of not wanting to use it.
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Not exactly. The OP has stated he or she doesn't want to give any reason outside of not wanting to use it but still wants his or her phone to still be notified when their lost items are found.

If the OP has said, "Oh thanks, I'll turn off Find My Network then.", then that would be fine and I wouldn't have a problem with it. But the OP didn't say that. He or She said "That sucks."
 
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Apple_Robert said:
If a person doesn't want to be part fo the overall Airtag mesh program, he or should be able to opt out. I don't think it is selfish of a person to want to opt out. And I don't think anyone should be shamed because he or she doesn't want to be a part of the bee hive.
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the ‘airtag mesh program’ as you call it is the same one that finds your phone, you can’t have one without the other.
 
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melevittfl said:
Not exactly. The OP has stated he or she doesn't want to give any reason outside of not wanting to use it but still wants his or her phone to still be notified when their lost items are found.

If the OP has said, "Oh thanks, I'll turn off Find My Network then.", then that would be fine and I wouldn't have a problem with it. But the OP didn't say that. He or She said "That sucks."
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So what. As I said, the OP doesn't have to give a reason. If the OP wants to make personal use of it, then he can turn it on and off at will and merely hope he or she hasn't been part of the group Airtag find feature for all I care. I don't care whether the OP uses Find My or not. It isn't my device.
 
ukms said:
There is a toggle ….. as has been said many times ….. the OP can remove him/her self from ‘find my’ ….. easy 😃
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Again, I know all that and have stated such on the thread already. The OP was speaking of a separate toggle for which I agreed.

If people want answers about the OP and his or her motives etc. ask the OP. I think I have said all that really needs to be said (from my viewpoint) in the thread already. Continuing in the thread isn't worth my time. The OP has his or her answer already. What he or she does with a personal device doesn't bother me.
 
Apple_Robert said:
So what. As I said, the OP doesn't have to give a reason. If the OP wants to make personal use of it, then he can turn it on and off at will and merely hope he or she hasn't been part of the group Airtag find feature for all I care. I don't care whether the OP uses Find My or not. It isn't my device.
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I don't care if they use it or not either. And they don't have to give a reason.

But you seem to keep missing the point. If he or she wants to not allow their phone to update the network, but still wants other people's phone to signal when their phone have found his or hers, then that's selfish.
 
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The toggle in the settings is pretty clear. 'Participating lets you locate your iPhone even if its offline'.

Attempting to turn it off gives you another popup telling you again you can only find the phone when it is online which seems to be what the OP wants.

The mesh network is not new for airtags. Nothing has really changed with regards to finding your phone.
 
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I don’t know why this has taken two pages of arguing. The issue is incredibly straightforward.

You can participate in a group collaboration, or you can opt out. Entirely up to you and no-one’s business which choice you make.

What you cannot do is have the group collaborate to your personal benefit without making any contribution yourself. That is, by definition, selfish.
 
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EFBB56B7-3BA5-4D48-B0D0-C2719F570D0D.png

If this is all about not participating in the FindMy network while keeping Find My Phone working (and I assume all other device locations, not sure about airtag)…. There is a toggle for the API that listens for, parses, and transmits FindMy public tokens (yours and any others you have discovered, and location). You can’t have one without the other. OP says they want it to work like it did before airtags - just turn the network option off.
 
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HappySponge said:
Not sure how this selfish. If my phone is lost i use the app to find it via GPS. Not using your phone

The airtag mesh is new and something I do not wAnt to participate in.
Click to expand...

You can separately turn off the Find My mesh network and keep online device location. Go to Settings -> tap your name -> Find My -> Find My iPhone -> and turn Find My network off. The notification you get is telling You that you won’t be able to find your phone when it is offline, as in having no cellular or Wi-Fi coverage, but will still have connected Find My iPhone capability, which sounds like what you want. Your devices will then only connect directly to Apple and not nearby devices.
 
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melevittfl said:
But if your phone is in a location that's not getting a good cell signal, other phone nearby that are, or connected to WiFi, would be able to update you on your phone's location.
Click to expand...

tagy said:
The mesh network is not new for airtags. Nothing has really changed with regards to finding your phone.
Click to expand...

I have a feeling the OP is not aware that even before AirTags, having Find My enabled meant others' phones pinged your phone and reported it to the network and vice versa. Frankly, I was not aware of this either. I was under the impression that pre-AirTags Find My just meant that it was my phone and my phone only that reported its location to the network. And if it was offline then I was SOL.
 
mlsusa said:
I have a feeling the OP is not aware that even before AirTags, having Find My enabled meant others' phones pinged your phone and reported it to the network and vice versa. Frankly, I was not aware of this either. I was under the impression that pre-AirTags Find My just meant that it was my phone and my phone only that reported its location to the network. And if it was offline then I was SOL.
Click to expand...
The offline portion (Find My network) was introduced in iOS 13, shortly before Exposure Notifications were announced (COVID contact tracing). iOS 14.5 added AirTag support to that network.
 
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mlsusa said:
I have a feeling the OP is not aware that even before AirTags, having Find My enabled meant others' phones pinged your phone and reported it to the network and vice versa. Frankly, I was not aware of this either. I was under the impression that pre-AirTags Find My just meant that it was my phone and my phone only that reported its location to the network. And if it was offline then I was SOL.
Click to expand...

Same here. This goes to my point earlier that perhaps the original question was rooted in a misunderstanding. People were trying to help not prying.
 
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What impact on battery life does Find My Network have? That might be a ‘legitimate’ reason to turn it off.
 
It should be like tile, Apple Maps traffic or waze. If I want to take advantage of the service I will toggle a switch and contribute to the network I’m benefiting in. However if I don’t have airtags then I would like to opt out of the network.
 
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