How To Stop Sharing Your Location Without Them Knowing

Are you looking for steps on how to stop sharing your location without them knowing?

If so, this guide will provide everything you need to achieve this.

You may want to stop sharing your location to avoid someone tracking your whereabouts.

Or perhaps you want to change your location to a different region to take advantage of a location-specific offer.

Either way, hiding your location on your phone isn’t as hard as it sounds.

And you have a few options to work with.

These include using Airplane Mode, turning off “Share My Location”, and disabling location sharing in “Find My”.

There’s also the possibility of sharing your location via another device.

However, Android users must install anti-spyware to safely hide their location.

Below, we break down the steps you’ll need to take to ensure you no longer share your location with others.

So, let’s get stuck in.

How To Stop Sharing Your Location Without Them Knowing

If you’d like to stop sharing or change your location on your phone, you have five primary options at your disposal.

And all these options are absolutely free and easy to execute.

Let’s investigate these methods and the steps you’ll need to take to hide your location.

1. Activating Airplane Mode

This method works for both Apple and Android devices.

While switching to Airplane Mode doesn’t disconnect GPS tracking, it does block the sharing of your location.

As such, it’s the fastest way to stop sharing your location with apps and others. 

However, with Airplane Mode on, you may not have all your phone’s functions available to you.

This is because Airplane Mode sometimes disconnects you from Wi-Fi and your carrier network.

These are the steps you should follow to enable Airplane Mode and hide your location:

• Open the Settings app on your phone.
• The first item listed in the Settings menu should be “Airplane Mode”.
• Toggle the button next to Airplane Mode to switch it on or off.

You can also activate Airplane Mode on an iPhone or Android device from your control center menu.

Here’s how you do it:

• If you’re on your locked or home screen, simply swipe up.
• You’ll see a few icons for some of the core functions on your phone. One of which will be an icon with an airplane on it representing Airplane Mode. 
• Tap the icon to enable Airplane Mode. You can tap it again if you’d like to disable it.

3. Disabling “Share My Location”

Another effective way of preventing others from detecting your location is to stop location sharing.

This is a simple setting on your phone that you can easily adjust.

And we’ll provide you with the precise steps to execute this:

• Launch the Settings app on your phone. 
• Scroll down to “Privacy” and tap on it.
• Now tap on the “Location Services” option on the list.
• In the Location Services section, you’ll see an option: Share My Location.
• Make sure that “Share My Location” is disabled.

Now your location is hidden from friends and family sharing services and third-party tracking apps.

3. Disabling Location Sharing In The “Find My” App (iPhone Only)

iPhone users who have set up the “Find My” app will share their location through the app.

Perhaps you’ve set up this native feature to protect your phone in case it goes missing or is stolen.

Or maybe your parents use it to keep tabs on your whereabouts to ensure your safety. 

No matter the reason, you can easily disable their ability to see where you are without them knowing.

Let’s examine how it’s done.

• Tap on the “Find My” app to open it.
• Scroll to the bottom and select “Me”.
• Find “Share My Location” on the menu that pops up and which it off.

Alternatively, you may not want to share your whereabouts with a specific individual.

In this instance, you might just want to block them from seeing where you are but still allow others to find you.

If so, the below steps will ensure that you stop sharing your location with that person.

• After opening the “Find My” app, tap on “People”.
• Then select the individual’s name you’d like to prevent from seeing your location.
• Next, select the “Stop Sharing My Location” option at the bottom.

Once you’ve completed the above steps, your location will be hidden via the “Find My” app.

4. Sharing Your Location Via Another Device (iPhone Only)

It’s also possible to share your location from a different device using the “Find My” app.

In other words, you’ll be sharing the location of the second device with yours.

You’ll need location sharing enabled on your device to set this up. 

Follow these steps to ensure the “Find My” location-sharing feature is enabled:

• Tap on the Settings app icon to open it.
• Then select your name at the top to view your account settings.
• Find the “Find My” option and tap on it.
• Ensure that “Share My Location” is switched on on the next screen.

Now that you’ve set up location sharing via the “Find My” feature, you can set up a second phone to share your location.

And we’ve provided the steps to do it below.

• Launch the Settings app on the second device.
• Tap on the account name at the top.
• Next, look for the “Find My” option in the menu and tap on it.
• As before, ensure that the “Share My Location” is enabled.
• Now close the Settings app and launch the “Find My” app on this device.
• Scroll down and select the “Me” option.
• Then toggle on the “Share My Location” button.
• Next, tap “Edit My Location” and change the name to something easily identifiable.
• Return to the previous screen and select “People” from the menu.
• Tap on “Share My Location” below the list of people.
• Now, select your name from the list to share the location with your phone.

5. Stop Location Sharing In iMessage

Many aren’t aware that it’s possible to track someone’s location using the iMessage app

. However, the person sharing their location must permit the other person to track them.

And they’ll receive notifications each time their location is shared.

iPhone users can ensure no one is tracking them by disabling location sharing in the iMessage app.

Here’s how to go about it:

• Open the iMessage (aka Message) app.
• Tap on a conversation with someone you know is tracking your whereabouts through iMessage.
• Next, select the information icon at the top of the interface.
• On the following screen, tap on the “Stop Sharing My Location” option to block them from seeing your location.
• You’ll have the opportunity to choose a duration to stop sharing your location. You can select to stop sharing it for an hour, until the end of the day, or indefinitely.

An Alternative Option To Stop Sharing Your Location

Another way to stop sharing your location to protect your device from malicious software is to download anti-spyware software.

Anti-spyware apps can detect and block any apps, viruses, or hackers attempting to pinpoint your location.

It will also prevent them from seeing any personal information they could use for criminal activity.

There are a host of anti-spyware apps to choose from.

These include Bitdefender Total Security, Norton 360, and Avast AntiTrack, to name a few.

FAQs

1. How Do I Manipulate My Location On My iPhone?

The best way to change your location without disabling location sharing is to download a VPN app from the Apple app store.

There are several reliable VPN apps available to download. But the best VPN apps are NordVPN and ExpressVPN.

2. Can Someone Still See Your Location If Your Phone Is In Airplane Mode?

Technically, yes. If someone has access to your GPS information, they could still track your location.

However, you can disable your phone’s GPS in the Location Services section of your phone’s Privacy and Security settings.

3. If I Disable Location Sharing Via iMessage, Will The Other Person Find Out?

Yes. When you select “Stop Sharing My Location”, a notification will be sent to the person you’ve been tracking.

And it will let them know that you’ve stopped sharing your location, mentioning your name specifically.

Conclusion

Preventing others from seeing your location without them knowing isn’t difficult.

And with our above guide, you have several options at your fingertips to ensure no one can pinpoint your location.