How to Fix “Location not Available” in your iPhone?

The Location not Available issue on an iPhone might occur due to issues with the phone’s iOS or due to misconfiguration of the location-sharing settings. The error occurs when you cannot see a contact’s location in Messages or under Find My application.

1. Disable the iPhone’s Low Power Mode

You may encounter the location-sharing issue if your iPhone is in its low power mode and the service essential for the location-sharing is not running. In this case, disabling the iPhone’s low-power mode may resolve the issue.

1. Launch Settings of your iPhone and open Battery.

   

2. Now disable Low Power Mode and restart your iPhone.

   

3. Upon restart, check if the location sharing is working fine.

2. Correct Your iPhone Region

You may face the location issue on your iPhone if your iPhone’s region is not correct. This can glitch out the iPhone’s location modules and cause the issue. Here, correcting your iPhone’s region may resolve the issue.

1. Launch the iPhone Settings and open General.

   

2. Then tap on Language and Region.

   

3. Now set the correct Region and Language on your iPhone and afterward, restart your iPhone.

   

4. Upon restart, check if the iPhone is clear of the location-sharing issue.
5. If not, check if using the Apple ID (not the number) to share your or the contact location solves the problem.

3. Log into iCloud to Accept New TOS

Your iPhone’s location may not work if you have not accepted the new Terms of services of iCloud. This stops the service from running unless you accept all the terms. Here, accepting the new iCloud TOS may resolve the issue.

1. Launch a browser on your system and head to the iCloud website.
2. Now log in using your credentials and if a new TOS window is shown, accept it.

   

3. Then check if the location issue is cleared.
4. If not, open the iCloud settings in your iPhone Settings, and if a new TOS menu is shown, accept it
5. Now restart your iPhone and upon restart, check if the iPhone is working fine.
6. If that did not work, power off your Apple Watch (if connected to the same Apple ID) and wait for an hour.
7. Now, without powering on the Watch, check if the iPhone’s location sharing is working fine..

4. Update the OS of Your iPhone to the Latest Build

Your iPhone may show an error message if the phone’s OS is not updated. This outdatedness can make the OS modules incompatible with Apple servers. Here, updating the iPhone’s iOS to the latest build may resolve the location issue.

1. Firstly, create a backup of your iPhone and charge its battery to 100%.
2. Now connect the iPhone to a Wi-Fi network (if not connected) and open the iPhone Settings.
3. Then select General and open Software Update.

   

4. If an iOS update is shown, download and install it.
5. Then restart your iPhone and afterward, check if the location issue is cleared.

5. Uninstall the Conflicting Apps

iPhone’s location issue might also occur due to interference from a 3^rd party app. The app may be an antivirus, parental control, or content filtering app. The Bark app is reported to cause the issue and we will discuss the process of uninstalling it.

1. Touch and Hold the icon of the Bark app on the iPhone’s Home screen.

   

2. Now select Remove App and then confirm to do so by tapping on Delete App. You may have to disable Bark’s parental controls to uninstall it.
3. Once done, restart your iPhone and upon restart, check if the iPhone’s location sharing is working fine.

6. Enable Location Sharing in the iPhone’s Family Sharing Settings

Enabling location sharing in the iPhone’s Family Sharing settings may resolve the issue.

1. Launch your iPhone Settings and tap on your Apple ID.

   

2. Now select Family Sharing and enable Location Sharing. You may have to repeat this on both devices.

   

3. Then restart both the devices and afterward, check if the location problem is solved.

7. Enable Cellular Data for Find Friends

Your iPhone may fail to find friends on mobile data if the feature is not enabled. Here, enabling cellular data for Find Friends may clear the error.

1. Launch Settings of your iPhone and open Cellular.
2. Then locate Find Friends and enable it.

   

3. Now repeat the same for Safari.
4. Then restart your iPhone and afterward, check if the iPhone’s location problem is solved.

8. Edit Location Services Settings of the iPhone

Editing the Location Services settings of the iPhone may resolve the issue.

1. Launch the iPhone Settings and open Privacy & Security.

   

2. Now select Location Services and enable Location Services.

   

3. Then tap on System Services and enable Frequent Locations (green color). You may need to enter your Apple credentials (if asked to).

   

4. Now check if the iPhone’s location problem is solved.

   

5. If not, repeat steps 1 to 2 to open System Services and enable Share My Location.

   

6. Now check if the iPhone’s location sharing is working fine.
7. If that did not work, set Share My Location to This Device and check if that solves the problem.
8. If the issue is occurring with a Wi-Fi connection, head to the iPhone’s Location Services Settings and open System Services.
9. Now enable Wi-Fi and then check if the iPhone’s location problem is solved.

9. Re-enable the Location Sharing

You may face the location issue under discussion due to a temporary glitch in your iPhone. In this case, disabling and enabling location sharing may clear the problem.

1. Launch the Settings of your iPhone and open Find MY.
2. Now disable Share My Location and wait for a few seconds.

   

3. Then enable Share My Location and afterward, check if the iPhone is clear of the location-sharing problem.
4. If that did not work, power off both devices at once and wait for a minute.
5. Now power on the problematic device and disable Share My Location.
6. Then restart the problematic device and enable Share My Location.
7. Now power on the other device and check if the location-sharing problem is cleared.
8. If the issue persists, launch the iPhone Settings and tap on your Apple ID.
9. Now open Find My and select Find My iPhone.
10. Then disable Find My iPhone and wait for a minute.
11. Now enable Find My iPhone and check if the location issue is cleared.
12. If that fails to clear the error, enable the following under the Find My iPhone setting (you may have to enable Passcode for the iPhone which you can disable later):

    Find My iPhone
    
    Find My Network
    
    Send Last Location

    

13. If that did not work and the issue is occurring in the Messages app, disable location sharing on both devices.
14. Now power off both devices and wait for a minute.
15. Then power on the problematic device and enable location sharing.
16. Now power on the other device and check if the location sharing is working fine.
17. If the issue persists, head to Find My Settings in the iPhone and enable Use This Phone as My Location.

    

18. Then check if the iPhone’s location issue is cleared.

10. Delete the Individual in Find My Friend App

A bug in iOS related to a certain individual may not let you use the location-sharing feature. Here, deleting the problematic individual in the Find My Friend app may resolve the issue. You can always add the individual back again.

1. Launch Find My Friend and delete the problematic individual.
2. Now check if any other contact is shown more than once.
3. If so, then delete that contact and force restart your iPhone.
4. Afterward, check if the iPhone’s location sharing is working fine.
5. If not, launch the iPhone Settings and tap on your Apple ID.
6. Now select iCloud and open Share My Location.

   

7. Then enable Share My Location and hit the back button. 
8. Afterward, select From This Device and delete any other devices shown.
9. Now check if the location-sharing issue is cleared.
10. If that does not work, remove the problematic device in the iCloud Settings and disable Location Sharing.
11. Now enable Location Sharing and add back the problematic device in the iCloud Settings.
12. Then check if the location-sharing issue is resolved.
13. If the issue persists, check if sending the sharing request through the Messages app solves the problem.
14. If that does not work, remove the devices of the problematic contacts from your iCloud Settings.
15. Now sign out the problematic contacts from the iCloud on their respective devices and disable location sharing.
16. Now restart the devices and enable location sharing.
17. Then add back the contacts to the iCloud on their devices and add the contacts back to the Find My app on your iPhone.
18. Now check if the iPhone is clear of the location not available issue.

11. Share Your Location Through Contacts

You can share your location with the contact through his contact card if the location sharing is not working otherwise.

1. Launch Contacts on your iPhone and open the contact card of the problematic individual.
2. Now enable Share My Location and set it to Share Indefinitely.

   

3. Then check if that clears the problem. If it is already enabled, check if setting it to Automatic resolves the issue.
4. If not, delete the individual’s contact card and restart your iPhone.
5. Upon restart, add back the individual contact info and then check if the location sharing is working. It will be better to use the Apple ID, not the phone number.

12. Reset Your iPhone to the Factory Defaults

Your iPhone may show this issue if the phone’s iOS is corrupt. Due to this corruption, the essential location modules may fail to execute. In this case, resetting your iPhone to the factory defaults may clear the location problem.

Through iPhone Settings

1. Create a backup of your iPhone and charge its battery to the full.
2. Launch your iPhone Settings and head to the General section.
3. Now open Reset and tap on Erase All Contents and Settings of iPhone.

   

4. Then confirm to initiate the reset process and wait till the process finishes.
5. Once done, set up the iPhone as a new device and we are hopeful, the iPhone will be clear of the location not available issue.

Through iTunes

If the above did not work, then you may reinstall iOS on your iPhone by using iTunes. Before moving on, make sure to delete or move any older iPhone backups from iTunes.

1. Launch iTunes and expand its Help menu.
2. Now select Update and wait till the update completes.

   

3. Once done, close iTunes and connect the iPhone to the PC through a lightning cable.
4. Now tap on the iPhone’s volume-up button while connected to the PC.
5. Then tap on the iPhone’s volume down button and press/hold the side button of your iPhone.

   

6. Keep a hold of the iPhone’s side button until the screen reaches the recovery mode or DFU mode screen. Keep holding the phone’s side button on the Apple logo screen.
7. Now release the side button and open iTunes on your system.
8. Then click on your iPhone in Devices and steer to Summary.
9. Now click on Restore and afterward, confirm to restore the iPhone.

   

10. Then wait till the process finishes and eject the iPhone.

    

11. Once done, set the iPhone as a new device without restoring from an iCloud backup (for the time being) and hopefully, your iPhone will be clear of the location-sharing problem.

If none of the above worked, then you may contact Apple Support to resolve the location-sharing issue. In the meantime, you may use another location-sharing app.