Without much effort, I could think of a bunch of situations where locating an iPhone might come in handy: Have you lost your phone? Would you like to know where your children are? Are you going to organize a gymkhana with your friends?
For these and other situations, we have prepared this mini article to learn to locate your iPhonein which we show you both the official Apple method and some secure third-party applications that we believe can be useful to track an iPhone in any situation.
Use Find My iPhone, Apple’s official tool
One of the fastest ways to track an Apple phone is to use the feature Search my Iphone which is integrated into iCloud, which is activated by default when the Apple ID is set up on a phone. If you still want to check if it is active, you must enter Setting > iCloud > Search my Iphone and make sure the function is activated.
Once this has been verified, if we want to locate where our iPhone is, we must do it through iCloud official website. Once inside, we can check the devices we have and their location. If you want to know a little more about this, our partner Andy Acosta wrote an article that you might be interested in about how Find My iPhone works.
IMPORTANT: One of the requirements to be able to locate the phone is that it is connected to the Internet, but instead if the device is offline, you will only be able to see the last known location.
In the event that you have lost your phone, you can use the function «Lost Mode»(Lost Mode) that will allow you to lock the device and display a personalized message on its screen. This feature will also allow you to track the location of the device if a new SIM card with mobile data access is inserted into your phone.
Third-party applications: only use options that are verified
As for third-party apps to locate your iPhone or other people’s phones, there are quite a few options on the AppStore, but not all are equally reliable. Although it is true that Apple does a fairly exhaustive sweep and analysis of what enters its application store (a fact that does not happen with other systems such as Android, whose PlayStore policies are very lax)there are a few applications that can work very well to locate an iPhone phone
Life360: a tracking application aimed at all types of users
This application is aimed at being able to monitor all types of users: from children to the elderly or drivers. As a strong point, it is compatible with all types of iOS and Android smartphones. Safe360 is a complete suite that covers the monitoring of all age groups and does so through multiple very interesting options:
- The app shows the real time location of all members of a family group.
- Allows you to set a security perimeter in an area, so that if the phone leaves it, the app administrator will receive a notification. If the phone leaves the “safe zone”, you will know it instantly.
- Life360 allows you to see the location history of group members in a given period of time.
- The members of the family group can send text messages and share images in a private chat within the application.
- Includes a emergency button that allows to send an alert to all members of the group in case of emergency.
- Life360 also offers a driving function safe that detects when a member of the group is driving and sends security alerts if dangerous driving behavior is detected.
Find My Kids: the ideal option if you want to track your children
This application allows us to locate the location of a child in real time and receive notifications when the child arrives or leaves a predefined place, establish safe zones and chat with him just like the previous application, but adds as an extra functionality a low battery warning: andIn the event that the child’s phone is running out of battery, the application administrator you will receive a low battery warning so you can tell your child to charge the phone as soon as possible.
Glympse: An app for sharing with friends, with an emphasis on privacy
This application is oriented to share the location among the group of people you want, without the need for them to be part of the family group. It is more oriented to be used by friends who decide to share locations, such as in an outdoor activity, going on a hiking trail or even playing a game of «treasure map”. The bulk of Glympse’s functions are linked to these uses:
- Real-time location tracking: The application allows users to share their location in real time with friends or family delimiting time that you can track the phone
- messages and chats to people who are in the same app group.
- WebApp no need to install anything extra: In addition to location sharing through the app, users can share a link that allows others to see their location in a web browser.
- compatibility with various devices: from smartphones, tablets, wearables and in-car entertainment systems.
- Integration with other services– Integrates with a wide range of services, including iMessage, Slack, and Alexa
We hope that the information on how to locate an iPhone will be useful to you and if you have any questions or clarifications, do not hesitate to leave us a comment!
