How To Check iPhone Location History?

Why Do You Need to Know How To Check iPhone Location History?

Your iPhone tracks each of your moves, including the location history. Love it or not the reality is like this. While it may seem insignificant, it can be really beneficial to know how to check iPhone location history because of privacy and other reasons.

First, it helps in retracing your steps. For example, if you asked “Where was that great coffee shop I went to last weekend?” your iPhone remembers the answers. You can always get back to the places without trying to remember the names of the places after checking your location history. This can be helpful for travelers and adventurers who want to keep track of their journeys.

Second, your location history can prove personal timelines. Suppose you need to prove that you were at one place at any given moment in time – maybe for a court case or just because you want to win an argument. In this case, if you know how to check location history on iPhone can actually save your life. The location history can’t be forged and will provide accurate records.

Another reason is the safety and security of your family. Location history can help parents or caregivers track the movement of a child or a disabled person, especially when they want to know whether the beloved person is safe or not. Whether using it for family monitoring or to keep tabs on your whereabouts in potentially dangerous areas, knowing how to check iPhone location history is certainly reassuring.

How To Check iPhone Location History?

It is also good for memorizing certain things. Location history is a kind of digital diary where the nice or funny memories of places you have visited are stored. You can reflect on what places you have gone to over the past weeks, months, or even years.

It’s finally about the control of your data. Being aware of how to check iPhone location history in 2024 and, if required, delete the location history helps you keep such things private. You will remain fully aware of what’s being tracked out there, and above all, you can decide whether to keep it on or shut it off entirely. We’ve already covered the guide about how to hide the apps on iPhone without physically deleting them. It is useful to follow us because we post great guides for iPhones, Android, and PC. 

How Does Location History Setting Work on iPhone?

The location history on the iPhone is a part of the Location Services. It helps your Apple device to track where you go using various technologies. This setting includes the tracking GPS, Wi-Fi, and cell towers to provide the location tracking data on your device. This setting allows your iPhone to record key places you visit and when you were there. It’s easy to find after clicking the option called Significant Locations.

“Significant Locations” is a database of places you go to, like your home, workplace, or hangouts. Look for it on your iPhone with such a path – Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services > System Services > Significant Locations. You’ll see a list of recent locations with the time you visited each location, just like the screenshot shows.

Apple keeps this data private, accessible only to you by request. It doesn’t create a full timeline of your travels like Google Maps, but it shows important spots where you’ve spent time. If you find this level of tracking intrusive, you can turn off Significant Locations within the same menu.

The feature that keeps track of your routine or the habits developed, on one side, gives you the possibility of administrating or deleting that information in case you want to keep your privacy intact.

How To Check iPhone Location History – 3 Reliable Methods

  1. Using Google Maps Timeline

Google Maps helps to find out how to check iPhone location history in detail. But this method will only work if you have enabled the location tracking in the app of Google Maps. In such a way, Google Maps can provide a summary of where you have been: 

  • Open the application, tap your profile picture, and select Your Timeline;
  • You will see your daily travels – the markings on the places you visited, routes taken, and how long you spent there;
  • You can also zoom into a date to see past movements or search your location history via the calendar;

It’s a pretty precise tool, which has not only location tracking of your current trips but also historical data from up to 36 months ago. If you are a fan of working on a desktop, be sure to check out timeline.google.com for a more user-friendly interface.

  1. Using iPhone’s Significant Locations

Apple’s in-built Significant Locations option stores the information about the places you visit frequently:

  • You access it by going into Settings, tapping Privacy & Security;
  • Then choose the Location Services, followed by System Services, and finally Significant Locations;

This option doesn’t create a journey map like Google Maps does. Instead, it logs locations with a rough timestamp. 

You can visualize the places you have been during the last few days or weeks and the time you spent there, for instance. That is a less complicated and private method of location history tracking than Google Maps. You can disable the tracking of your Location History under the settings if this feature is overkill to your liking, mostly for privacy concerns. We recommend checking the following video to understand better how to check iPhone location history without any additional tools. 

  1. Using AirDroid Family Locator

AirDroid Family Locator is a very reliable paid third-party service that can track down your iPhone location history. Once installed on both your phone and the device with which you want to track, you can see the user’s location in real time and track all the visited locations for up to 30 days. Besides, additional safety features include geo-fencing to set the alerts when a user goes to a certain area. It gives you in-depth routes taken and the exact timestamps.

Problems You May Face When Checking iPhone Location History

  • Location Services are Off. If the Location Services are turned off, the iPhone will not be able to track or store the location data; therefore, it is impossible for one to view history.
  • Significant Locations Not Turned On. If you have not turned on Significant Locations under your privacy settings, your iPhone is not recording some of the key places you visit.
  • Limited Information from the Setting of Major Locations – including only key places visited without comprehensive details about the travel routes and exact times included in Google Maps.
  • Data Privacy Restrictions. Your privacy settings or restricted accesses reduce the possibility of seeing location history, especially when tracking has been disabled on purpose;
  • No Internet Connection. The Google Maps location history will appear if there is an active internet connection;
  • Inconsistent Location Accuracy. It is not guaranteed that the location may be accurate in all environments, inside buildings, or in rural areas. This inconsistency will result sometimes in problems while viewing your history;
  • Battery Usage. The feature of location tracking constantly keeps sucking the battery of your smartphone. It may happen if your iPhone is pretty old;

How to Check iPhone Location History – Troubleshooting

Below we will tell you how to check phone location history on iPhone without all these mentioned issues.

Location Services Disabled

If you don’t see any location data, make sure that Location Services is on. Go to Settings > [Privacy & Security] > Location Services. If Location Services is off, tap to turn it on. Otherwise, your iPhone isn’t going to track where you’ve been, and you need to turn this on not just in general but for particular apps as well, such as Google Maps.

Significant Locations Not Showing

This feature may be turned off if you don’t see your location history in Significant Locations. Go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services > System Services > Significant Locations. Make sure it’s turned on. If you still can’t see any records, restart your phone. This would refresh the cached locations.

Incorrect or Outdated Google Maps Version

If Google Maps is not showing your Timeline, that’s probably because your app is outdated and requires an update. Open the App Store, search for Google Maps, and update it (if it is available). After the update, open the app, sign in, and check “Your Timeline” at the top of your profile for all location history.

Inaccurate Location Tracking

Sometimes your location history is not quite accurate or some places are missing from your iPhone. This happens when the GPS signal is weak. To make this right, go to “Settings” and make sure that “Wi-Fi” and “Bluetooth” are turned on. These technologies complement GPS to offer better location accuracy when GPS signals are poor.

No Internet Connection

First, make sure that your Internet connection is on if you are trying to access location history via Google Maps. This is because Google Maps can’t load location data without this. Make sure that either “Wi-Fi” or “Cellular Data” is turned on and working to display your complete history.

Also, you can visit the official forums of Apple where the support team answers questions related to Apple’s devices – iPhone, iPad, Mac, etc.

Frequently Asked Questions

How to check someone’s location history on “Find my iPhone”?

You will need to get permission from the person to track their location – they need first to share their location with you through the “Find My iPhone” app. Launch the “Find My iPhone” app from your device and tap “People” at the bottom. Then tap the name of the person whose location you want to see. You will see the data about the person’s current location and their last known location, but you won’t be able to see a more extensive history of where they have been. This is how to check the “Find my iPhone” location history.

How to check Google location history on iPhone?  

To view Google location history on your iPhone, open Google Maps and tap on the profile icon at the top right. In the menu, tap Your Timeline. Google Maps will then display a timeline of places you have been, the routes you traveled to get there, and how much time you spent there.

Important notice! This option is only possible in cases where location tracking and history are enabled through your Google account settings.

How to check iPhone location history on iCloud?

You can’t see the full location history using iCloud, but you can see your iPhone’s current/last location using “Find My iPhone” on iCloud.com. Sign in with your Apple ID, click Find My iPhone, then select your device from the list. It shows the current or last known location, but it does not reflect past movements as the Google Maps timeline does.

Can I track my iPhone’s last location?

Yes, you can use the “Find My iPhone” app to find where your iPhone was last located, but only if it was turned on before you lost your phone. You could log in with another Apple device or via iCloud.com, and select your device from the option “Devices”. And that will show you where it last knew your phone was, even if your phone is offline or out of battery.

How to clear location history on iPhone?

To remove location history from an iPhone, open Settings, tap Privacy & Security, then Location Services, followed by System Services, Significant Locations, and tap Clear History. In Google Maps, open the application and tap your profile. Then select Your Timeline from the menu. Inside Timeline settings, you can select Delete all the location history data.

Conclusion

We hope that this guide helped you to find out how to check iPhone location history quickly. Also, you can now delete the location history or make yourself “untraceable” for some time. Make sure to read other guides on this matter to figure out what to do. But keep following our blog to get more interesting tech-related reviews and tutorials. If this information and tips are not enough, make sure to visit the Reddit thread where real iPhone users talk about how to check all location history on iPhone – all the apps and methods.

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