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Preventing teenager from turning off "Find My" within the family

For safety and many practical reasons, we want everyone in the family to be "findable" with the Find My app within the family. However, my teenager stops sharing his location at will. So we wanted to turn on sharing location -- for folks within the family -- and prevent him from turning it off.


Looking through prior questions in Apple Support, it appears that many others have asked this question which is unanswered in later posts.


After discussing this on a call with tech support I thought posting the answer would be helpful. It turns out that modern iOS limits a parent in this regard. That is, once the teenager turns a certain age -- but is still a minor -- the iOS does not allow a parent to turn on location sharing and prevent the teenager from turning it off. So if you think that this functionality is useful, you should create some feedback to Apple.


Posted on Jun 26, 2022 1:49 PM

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7 replies

Jun 26, 2022 2:14 PM in response to invisiblehand

Correct. Nearly all companies will allow 13-year-olds providence over their online lives per the Children's Online Privacy Protection Rule. You can enable family sharing which will give you more control.


You can ask them.

Require it as part of using the phone.

Or, go old school and know that even if it's not on, they still have a phone (just in case); unlike most of us growing up.

Jun 26, 2022 2:04 PM in response to invisiblehand

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Jun 26, 2022 2:10 PM in response to invisiblehand

Apple defines a minor using local laws. In the US someone under 18 is a minor. Someone over 18 is not. For someone under 18 in a Family Sharing plan you can prevent turning off Location Services, and if you have an Apple ID on the phone that the minor does not know the password for they cannot turn off Find My.


This won’t stop them from turning off the phone, enabling Airplane Mode, using a Faraday shielded bag, wrapping the phone in aluminum foil or removing the SIM.


While technology can assist parenting, it isn’t a replacement for parental authority. You need to explain consequences to not being able to be tracked, whether it is loss of the smartphone and replacing it with a dumb phone, or others that parents have used for millennia. Back before cell phones in my household our children were required to tell us where they were going, and if it was to a friend’s house, to call us when they got there and when they left.

Jun 26, 2022 3:04 PM in response to invisiblehand

Do I think this addition would be valuable? Well, yes, but probably not in the way you intend, or would want. I do think this approach is very valuable for teaching younger people much more about the technical limits and trust limits of their parents.


Put differently, these efforts will teach more about parents and educators than they might realize, intend, or even want.


In practice? Will this help? No.


If you don’t earn the trust that’s necessary here and if the young person is inclined, then the iPhone might be shut off (whoops), or handed off to another (how’d that happen?), or will be left behind (I’m sooooo forgetful), or out of communications (you can bet the metal drawer was first tested for its cellular signal shielding effects), or the battery somehow won’t be charged (the charger just fell out of the wall socket).

Preventing teenager from turning off "Find My" within the family

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