How to Stop Sharing Location without Them Knowing (Android and iOS)
Last Updated on February 13, 2025 by John PaulSmartphones running on Android and iOS have location-sharing features, which make navigation and tracking much easier. You can share your location to someone so they can track your whereabouts on the map.
But there are times when sharing your location with someone must come to an end. Perhaps, you don’t want them to track you anymore or you simply want to turn off your location without someone knowing.
Regardless of the reason why you may want to stop sharing location, we have your back in case you don’t know how. Below, we’ve prepared various ways how to stop sharing location without them knowing. Read on and find the one that can work for your situation.
In this article
- FYI: Is It Possible to Stop Sharing Location without Them Knowing
- Part 1: How to Stop Sharing Location on iPhone without Them Knowing
- Part 2: How to Stop Sharing Location Without Them Knowing on Android
- Part 3: How to Stop Sharing Location via Airplane Mode on iPhone and Android
- Alternative: How to Hide Your Location instead of Stopping Sharing
FYI: Is It Possible to Stop Sharing Location without Them Knowing
Before we discuss the ways how you can turn off your location without someone knowing, you must be wondering if that is indeed possible. Fortunately, yes! There are ways you can disable your location without the person even realizing it. They won’t get notified at all. A few examples are:
- Enabling Airplane Mode
- Disabling location on your phone
- Using a different phone or a third-party app to share your location with them
That’s just the tip of the iceberg. As long as the person doesn’t manually check your whereabouts on their device, almost all manner of stopping the sharing of your device’s location won’t ever let them know.
| Methods to Stop Sharing Location | Notification for Stopping | Notification for Re-enabling | Apply to |
|---|---|---|---|
| Turn Off Location Services (iOS/Android) | No | Yes/Possible | iPhone & Android |
| Stop Sharing Location on Find My | No | Yes | iPhone |
| Stop Sharing for All Users (Find My) | No | Yes | iPhone |
| Turn off Location on Find My | No | Yes | iPhone |
| Block Contact | No (but if they try contacting you, they’ll know) | No | iPhone |
| Stop Sharing Location on iMessage | No | Yes | iPhone |
| Stop Sharing Location on Google Maps | No | Yes | Android (iPhone users can use Google Maps as well) |
| Airplane Mode | No | Yes | iPhone & Android |
| Spoof Your Location | No | No | iPhone & Android |
| Use A Secondary Device as Decoy | No | No | iPhone & Android |
Method 1: Turn off Location Services on iPhone
This method requires you to manually access your phone’s Settings and disable your iPhone’s location services. When you do this, they will not know you’ve turned off the location services unless they check your location and can’t find you. However, Re-enabling it may also prompt them that you’re back to sharing your location.
1. Launch Settings from your Home Screen. Then, proceed to Privacy & Security and open Location Services
2. There, toggle it off. Alternatively, select the app that you used to share your location. Then, choose Never to disallow the app from sharing your device’s location. Toggle off Precise Location as well.
By turning off location services on the app, you might be able to cut off their tracking of your whereabouts, but you also disable some of the functions of the app. For example, if you’ve turned off location services for the Maps app, you won’t be able to see your exact location on the map as well if you wish to use it for navigation.
Method 2: Stop Sharing Location with One Person via Find My App
As you may know, Find My is a built-in app on iOS devices that allows you to share locations with someone. You can use it to share your location with one person or multiple users. If the previous method was too drastic and you only want to exclude one person from knowing your location (given that you shared your location using Find My), you can stop sharing it with them on the Find My app. Here’s how it’s done:
1. Launch the Find My app and proceed to the People section.
2. There, tap the name of the person you wish to cut off from tracking your location. Then, hit Stop Sharing Location.
There will be no notifications on their end, but they’ll know once you re-share your location to them after a while.
Method 3: Stop Sharing Location with All Users
If you’ve been using Find My to share your location with several people and you wish to stop them all from being able to track your iPhone, here are the steps to follow. This saves you a lot of time instead of stopping location-sharing on each user one by one.
1. Launch Settings and open your Apple ID.
2. Then, hit Find My and slide to toggle off Share My Location.
Once you turn it back on, there's a chance the people you shared your location with get notified. They'll know that you stopped it.
Method 4: Turn off My Location on Find My App
Another way to stop people from locating you on the Find My app is by turning off the Share My Location feature. This way, you can cut off tracking completely. As you may know, Find My can still share location even if it’s not connected to the internet.
1. Go to Find My app and open the Me section.
2. There, hit Share My Location and toggle it off. You may select Stop Sharing My Location if there’s no toggle.
Likewise, this method doesn’t inform the other person about your location being turned off. However, whenever you reactivate it, they’d receive a notification that you re-shared your location with them, telling them you’ve stopped at some point.
Method 5: Block/Unblock Contact on iPhone
Another way to quickly stop sharing location with someone on an iPhone is by blocking and unblocking them on Contacts. As you may know, one of the parameters you can share your location on iPhone is if the person is in your contacts. If you block them, all location-sharing will be automatically cut off without notifying them.
1. Launch the Contacts app and look for the target contact there. Then, open their contact card.
2. Next, scroll down to the bottom and hit Block Caller. After a while, you tap Unblock Caller.
After blocking them, you may unblock them if you still want them in your contacts. It won’t restore location sharing. On the other hand, blocking doesn’t entail notification on their end. Even if you unblock them they won’t know. However, if they check the location sharing app or they try to contact you, they’ll immediately figure it out.
Method 6: Stop Sharing Location on iMessage
Besides Find My, you can also share your location on iMessage. If that’s where you want your current location to stop from being shared. However, this method will show “(your name)’s location has expired”, which they may see if they manually check the location-sharing tab. Regardless, it won’t send a notification whenever you stop sharing the location. It does, though, if you re-share it.
1. Tap your iMessage app and go to the target conversation where you are currently sharing your iPhone’s location.
2. There, look for and hit the location info you are sharing to see more options. At the bottom, select Stop Sharing My Location.
Method 1: Turn Off Location Services on Android
For example, on the iPhone, one way to stop sharing your location with other people is to turn off the location services on your device. The same goes for any Android phone. Without the location services, tracking is disabled until you turn it back on. Depending on your Android phone's brand, this method can be a bit different (the names and locations of options might be different), but the process is pretty much the same.
1. Scroll down from the Status Bar to access Quick Settings. Then, look for and tap the Location icon to turn it on/off.
2. Alternatively, open the Settings app and find Location or Location Services. There, you should see a toggle. Slide it off.
Note:
Turning off location services globally could affect other apps using location tracking. Moreover, the person tracking you won’t receive notifications, but once you turn it on again, they may get notifications that you shared your location anew.
Method 2: Stop Sharing Location on Google Maps
If Find My is the built-in location-sharing app for iPhone, Google Maps is the one for Android phones. Google Maps comes out of the box for most Android devices. Aside from navigation, it offers location sharing to your contacts as well. If you are using Google Maps to share your current location with someone and you wish to stop it, this method is for you.
Further, this doesn’t inform the other party that you’ve stopped sharing your location, but it does tell them whenever you’re back to sharing it.
1. Tap Google Maps to launch it on your phone and hit your Profile icon there to see more options
2. Then, select Location Sharing to see the people you’re sharing your location with. Then, choose the target person and hit Stop.
Tip:
To turn off location sharing with someone automatically, make sure to set a specific period so it stops when the specified time has elapsed. And if you’re using Google Maps on iPhone as a third-party location-sharing app, this method can work for you, too.
Part 3: How to Stop Sharing Location via Airplane Mode on iPhone and Android
If you want to cut off all the tracking apps that rely on mobile data, WIFI, etc., turning on Airplane Mode is the simplest way to do it. As you may know, it stops all wireless connections on a mobile device, rendering it unable to send your real-time location to the people you shared it with.
Like the previous methods, this won’t notify them unless they check their app and see if your location has been unavailable. Here’s how to turn on Airplane Mode in case it’s your first time:
1. Slide down from your home screen to summon the Control Center for iPhone. As for Android, you may scroll down from the notification bar to access Quick Settings.
2. There, tap the Airplane icon right above the WIFI icon. Alternatively, you may go to Settings and switch to the toggle beside Airplane Mode.
Note:
Using Airplane Mode to turn off location sharing is great if it's temporary only. As mentioned, it can disable all connections, which may leave you with late messages, missed calls, etc. So, turn it off if you no longer need to hide your location. Once deactivated, your location services will be back online and they’ll likely get notified about your real-time location once more.
Alternative: How to Hide Your Location instead of Stopping Sharing
It’s true that the methods above can stop sharing your location effectively and to some degree– discreetly. However, that is not always the case. If the person checks their Find My app or any other similar app that you used to share your location, they’d immediately notice that you’ve excluded them or stopped sharing your location. Not to mention, some apps tend to notify the person you share your location with whenever you re-enable location sharing.
Fortunately for you, there are alternative ways to misdirect the person who’s tracking you. This way, you don’t need to stop location sharing at all.
1. Spoof Your Location with A Location Changer App (Fake Location)
If you don’t have a secondary phone to use as a decoy, you may use a location changer app. One of the most popular location changers out there is iAnyGo. It is an app for Android and iOS that can spoof your GPS location in just one click. This way, you can prevent the people who are currently tracking you from knowing your real location on the map. Here’s how to use it:
1. Click the button above to download iAnyGo and install it on your computer. Next, launch the app and you should see the Change Location feature on the main interface.
2. Then, connect your phone to the computer using a USB connector. Allow certain permissions (enable USB Debugging). Tap Trust when prompted. Then, enter your phone’s code for verification. Alternatively, connect your phone and PC to the same WIFI network.
3. After that, hit the Enter button. On the next page, type in the address or coordinates of the location you wish your phone to teleport to. You can also navigate the map and click the target area in case you don't know the name of the address. Finally, click the Start to Modify button.
2. Use A Secondary Phone as A Decoy
If they want to track your location, don’t use your primary phone. Instead, share your location from your secondary phone, which you can leave at home or anywhere they expect you to be. If you have an iPhone, use Find My to share your location. As for Android users, Google Maps is the way to go. However, this is only effective if you have a secondary phone.
For iPhone:
- Log in to your Apple ID. Then, launch Find My and go to the Me tab. There, hit Use This iPhone As My Location. Then, proceed to share your location with your target contact.
For Android:
- Launch Google Maps and log in to your Google Account. Then, tap on your Profile Picture and select Location Sharing. Then, tap the Share Location button. Choose between For 1 hour (you may customize the time) or Until you turn this off, and tap the target contact to send the location.
Tip:
Make sure that the location services are enabled or else the secondary device you’ve set up as a decoy won’t appear on their Find My or Google Maps.
Final Thoughts
As you can see, it’s fairly simple to stop sharing location without them knowing. Though they’ll know eventually, they’ll not notice instantly unless they’re checking your location from time to time manually. But if you need to be tracked by someone, the next best thing you can do is to hide your real location and misdirect them by using a decoy or a fake location. This way, you don’t have to explain to them why you stopped sharing your location.