Stop sharing your location with selected family members

Family Sharing can expose your live location in Find My, Messages and Maps. That may help with a lost device, but it can also become an unwanted standing arrangement after a move, separation or change of household. Apple lets you stop sharing with individual family members or turn off automatic sharing. You do not have to disable Location Services for every app to change who can see you. Consider personal safety before making a visible change; someone may notice that your location is no longer available.

Before you start​

Use a device and Apple Account you control. In a coercive or unsafe situation, prioritize physical safety and use Apple's Safety Check or trusted local help if appropriate; a setting change can alert another person through absence of location. Identify whether you are sharing from an iPhone or another device and whether anyone has access to your passcode or account.

Do it step by step​

1. Open Settings, Family, Location Sharing. Review the family members listed and the current automatic-sharing setting. Record the intended audience before changing anything.
2. Turn off Automatically Share Location if newly added family members should not receive your location by default. Then switch off sharing next to a specific person's name when you want to stop that person's access.
3. Open Find My, People. Review any non-family individuals with whom you separately share your location; Family settings may not cover those relationships. Stop sharing with a selected person there if needed.
4. In Find My, Me, confirm which device is used as your location and whether Share My Location is on. Turning off this master switch hides your location from everyone and may affect legitimate lost-device coordination.
5. Review Messages and Maps for existing location-sharing conversations or links. Confirm on your own device that the intended audience is no longer listed. Ask a trusted family member to check visibility only if doing so is safe.
6. If someone had account access, update the Apple Account password, review trusted devices and device passcodes separately. Location privacy does not remove an intruder from a signed-in account.

Check the result​

Only intended people remain in Find My's People list and the Family Location Sharing settings. Automatic sharing matches your choice, while navigation and emergency functions you still need continue to work.

If something goes wrong​

If the person still appears, determine whether the relationship is in Family Sharing, Find My friends or another service. Check you edited the correct account and location-sharing device. If the person knows your password or has a trusted device, address account access before assuming a toggle is enough.

Know the limit​

Stopping sharing may be visible to others and does not retract historic location knowledge, screenshots or a third-party app's access. Turning off all Location Services can break maps and safety features. Apple Safety Check can help review broader sharing, but it cannot govern every external account or social app. Apple family location sharing Apple Find My controls