Find My Location Alerts: Approval, Radius and Review

Decide whose location triggers whose alert

Start with the direction: do you want to receive an alert about a friend, or send that friend an alert about you? Then choose the trigger and whether it is one occasion or a continuing rule. These choices are more specific than simply letting someone view a shared location.

Version note: these steps follow Apple’s English iPhone User Guide with iOS 27 selected, checked 11 November 2026. Choose the version matching your device in the official guide. Menu wording can differ. This article reads the documented controls; it has not operated an iPhone or tested an account.

Fictional example: two adults arrange a voluntary pickup. Rowan offers one arrival notification to Ellis for this visit. That is not automatically an agreement for Ellis to receive a repeating departure alert every future workday. Describe the actual proposal rather than using “share location” as a catch-all permission.

The location-sharing guide covers recipients, duration and source device. This page covers event-triggered notifications in Find My.

Create a once or recurring arrival/departure alert

1. Open Find My → People → the intended person → More.
2. For an alert you receive about that person, use Notify Me → Add Location Alert.
3. Choose arrival or departure, then a location. New Location lets you create a location and set its radius.
4. Choose only once or every time, then Done → OK.

Apple says your friend gets an alert after you set the notification. A recurring notification requires the friend’s approval before it is set; the approval request arrives when the friend first arrives at or leaves the chosen location. Do not claim the same approval sequence for a one-time alert.

For notifying a friend about your location, the second source describes People → friend → More → Notify [friend’s name] → Add Location Alert, then arrival/departure, location/radius and once/every time, followed by Done. It does not state identical approval steps for that outgoing setup.

The English button names are read from the selected guide, including its icon accessibility labels; they are not observations of a logged-in iPhone. Confirm the selected person and actual version before following them.

Source: [1].

Source: [2].

Understand approval and scheduled absence

On a phone, scroll inside the table. Keyboard users can focus the table region and use the arrow keys.

For Is Not At, the source uses Notify Me → Add Location Alert, the named person under When, a location/radius, a start and end time, and days of the week, then Done → OK. This is a scheduled rule. It is not an emergency-service process or proof of what someone was doing.

Apple states a limit of up to 25 Notify Me notifications and that recurring notifications for friends require two-factor authentication to be on. These are stated setup conditions, not a workaround to create unapproved alerts. A configured rule or approval request does not prove that an alert was delivered, read or acted on.

Source: [1].

Treat the radius as an area, not a precise action

Apple explicitly says a larger radius can notify when a person is near the location rather than right at it. For a pickup, distinguish “near the meeting area” from “standing at the exact entrance” or “ready to leave.” The rule describes a location condition; it does not establish an action, motive or promise.

In the fictional pickup, Ellis needs to know when Rowan is actually ready. An area-based arrival alert may be a useful cue to check the agreed plan, but cannot confirm that Rowan is at the particular door or has finished another task. Keep readiness in the actual communication, not an inference from the dot.

Do not use an absent alert as proof that a person broke an agreement. The source says Find My notifications must be allowed to receive friend-location alerts. It does not promise perfect signals, delivery or attention. This guide has not tested a device’s notification settings.

Source: [1].

Review and remove notifications about you

Apple’s outgoing-alert page says to open Find My → Me to see people notified when your location changes. Its review section calls the list Alerts on My Location; the deletion section on the same captured page calls it Notifications About You. This is a real inconsistency in the cited source. Do not search endlessly for one universal heading: select your iOS version in the official guide and identify the list about your own location.

The source describes selecting a name, then a notification, then Delete Notification → Delete Notification. It states that notifications about you include ones you set and ones friends create. The stated “no section” interpretation belongs to that matching guide/list; it is not an audit of every account, device or other app.

For a notification you set, the friend-alert page separately uses People → person → More → notification. Change details and Done, or Delete Notification twice. Deleting one rule is different from ending location sharing with the person. Review recipient access separately if that is your actual aim.

The fictional completed pickup decision is: one agreed occasion, intended direction and recipient, defined location area, actual setup and approval status checked, and no repeating rule assumed. This is a planning example; no real approval or notification delivery is claimed.

Source: [1].

Source: [2].

Three checks before relying on an alert

These original fictional cases test the source-supported distinctions. They are not a device test or a tool for judging another person.