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Hide iPhone Find My Location Without Raising Suspicion

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Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
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Ever need a moment of privacy without raising suspicion? If you're secretly shopping for a holiday gift or planning a surprise party, you might want to temporarily obscure your actual location in Apple's Find My app on your iPhone without completely turning off location sharing.

FindMy-Feature.jpg

Here's a clever trick that lets you keep sharing enabled while displaying a different location – all by using another Apple device you own.

To hide your actual location, you'll need to own an iPhone and an iPad, or two iPhones or two iPads (i.e. not a Mac) signed in to your Apple Account with Find My enabled. This method works by telling Find My to use a stationary device's location instead of your iPhone's.

Start by leaving the device you want to use as your displayed location (like an iPad) in a convincing spot – perhaps your home or office. Then, take your iPhone and follow these steps:
  1. Open the Find My app and tap the Me tab at the bottom of the screen.
  2. Scroll down to find "Use This iPhone as My Location" and make sure it's toggled off.
    turn-off-find-my-share-location.jpeg

    Grab your other Apple device and open Find My.
  3. Tap the Me tab, then select "Use this [device] as My Location."
    use-ipad-find-my-location.jpg

    Toggle on the switch next to Share My Location. Your shared location will now show where this device is stationed, not where you actually are with your iPhone.
  4. When you're ready to resume normal location sharing, simply return to your iPhone's Find My app and toggle "Use This iPhone as My Location" back on.
Remember that this trick only works as long as your decoy device stays put and powered on. Lastly, we trust that you'll use this tip responsibly – like keeping that upcoming surprise party under wraps!

Article Link: Hide iPhone Find My Location Without Raising Suspicion
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/how-to/hide-your-iphone-find-my-location/
Last edited:
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Student of Life said:
The fundamental flaw from a technology side is that all the person has to do is tap devices and it will show the location of the item with you (phone/watch).
Click to expand...
Well, yes, but they need to be signed into the same Apple ID Account, or they need to share the AirTag. But yes, it would be so bad when someone would your true location just because of this…

edit ✍️: sorry, forgot to read the phone/watch at the end. You’re right. It doesn’t hide that. But people need to know about that. A lot of people I know never found out about that Devices tab in the Find My app
 
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Reactions: adrianjagielak, GlassFingers and CarAnalogy
Someone is now writing this into their novel/screenplay as we speak, but the bad guys have broken in the protagonist's phone and spoofed the location while they take them to the abandoned shipping yard. The smart detective will figure it out with the help of a nerdy kid at the station, though.
 
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