App guide

How to turn off location on Life360 on iPhone

Life360 has two different switches and they do not do the same thing. Pausing location sharing inside the app leaves a Location Sharing Paused label under your name for that Circle; turning the app's location permission off in your phone's settings is a separate switch, which Life360 documents as showing a Location permissions off alert instead.

Do they get told?Life360 documents what your Circle sees, not a notification that is sent. Pausing inside the app shows a Location Sharing Paused label under your name in that Circle, and a No Show Alert can notify a member when your arrival at a saved Place cannot be confirmed because location sharing is off. Turning the app's location permission off in your phone's settings is not documented as sending a notification either; Life360 says the Circle sees a Location permissions off alert message in its place.

Pause location sharing for one Circle

inside the Life360 app

Path

Life360
›
Settings
›
Location Sharing
›
Off

From the vendor’s own page · Life360 iOS app, read 2026-09-17 · checked 2026-09-17 · source: Life360 Support — Share My Location, Life360 Support — No Show Alerts

Do they get told?Life360 documents a label, not a notification: members of that Circle see Location Sharing Paused under your name. It also documents that a No Show Alert can notify a member when your arrival at a saved Place cannot be confirmed because location sharing is off.

Who can still see you

Off

This Circle's map

Your pin stops updating for that Circle, and members see a Location Sharing Paused label under your name.

Still on

Your other Circles, Check In and SOS

Life360 says Check In, SOS and Crash Detection still share your location, and every other Circle needs its own switch turned off.

Still visible

Life360 and a Circle you join later

Turning sharing off stops future updates; Life360 keeps the history it already collected, and a new Circle may be able to see it.

Life360 says this only affects the Circle you turned it off in; if you are in more than one Circle, repeat the steps in each.

Stop Life360 using your location at all

in iPhone Settings

Path

Settings
›
Privacy & Security
›
Location Services
›
Life360
›
Never

From the vendor’s own page · iOS (current release), read 2026-09-17 · checked 2026-09-17 · source: Apple Support — Turn Location Services and GPS on or off on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, Life360 Support — See a Circle Member's Location, Life360 Support — Life360 Location Sharing & Privacy

Do they get told?Life360 does not document a notification when you switch its location permission off. It documents what your Circle sees instead: a Location permissions off alert message, and it says your location no longer updates once location permissions are off.

Who can still see you

Off

Life360's access to your position

With Life360 set to Never, the app cannot read your position, so your pin stops updating in every Circle you are in.

Still on

Your account, Circles and other apps

You are still a member of every Circle, and Location Services stays on for every other app you have allowed.

Still visible

Your carrier and the sites you open

Your mobile network still places your phone by the tower it is using, and any site you open still sees your IP address.

Apple also documents turning Precise Location off instead, which leaves Life360 with your approximate position rather than none.

Share an area instead of your exact spot

inside the Life360 app

Path

Life360
›
your avatar
›
Create a Bubble
›
Done

From the vendor’s own page · Life360 iOS app, read 2026-09-17 · checked 2026-09-17 · source: Life360 Support — Life360 Bubbles Feature

Do they get told?Life360 documents that your Circle members will only see that you are in a Bubble, and that your exact location and driving information are not shared while you are in one. It documents a notification in the other direction: popping a Bubble tells your Circle you are sharing your location again.

Who can still see you

Off

Your exact spot and driving data

Life360 shares an approximate location for as long as the Bubble lasts, up to six hours and up to a 25-mile radius.

Still on

Safety features and messaging

Life360 says all safety and messaging features stay on, and a detected crash or emergency bursts the Bubble automatically.

Still visible

Your Circle, the moment it ends

Any Circle member can burst the Bubble, which Life360 says reveals your location and notifies the whole Circle.

An Admin can turn Bubbles access on or off for a Circle, so the feature is not always available.

Location spoofing, fake-GPS apps and mock-location settings are outside this site on purpose. This page describes the settings the app and your phone provide, and what the vendor documents about them.

If someone is tracking you against your will, turning a setting off may not be the safest first step. Read this first.

Every platform this site carries for Life360 is on the Life360 guide.

Before you tap

Question Does Life360 notify when you turn off location? Not as a notification. Life360's page says that when you turn off Location Sharing, "other members of your Circle will see 'Location Sharing Paused' under your name." Turning the app's location permission off in your phone's settings shows them a "Location permissions off" alert message instead. Question Does airplane mode turn off location? No. Airplane mode is a switch for radios: Apple's page says it "turns off all radios except for Bluetooth", and Google's says Wi-Fi and Bluetooth go off with it. Neither company's airplane-mode page mentions Location Services, GPS or location of any kind. Question How to turn off location without notifying It depends on the app, and only Apple and Snapchat answer it in writing. Apple says the person you stop sharing with won't be notified, and its own safety guide adds that they may notice you have stopped; Snapchat says friends you pick for a location setting aren't notified when you choose them. Life360, Google Maps and Instagram document what the other person's screen shows instead, which is not the same promise. App guide Find My Find My has one switch per person, a one-day pause per person, and one master switch for everyone; Messages, Maps and Contacts all reach the same share. Apple's sharing page says the person you stop sharing with is not notified. Apple's safety guide adds that they may notice you have stopped. iOS 27 · iPadOS 27 iPhone & iPad One master switch, one switch per app, and a precise-or-approximate choice underneath each. Most people want the second one. Android 17 Android Android keeps three separate switches: Use location for the whole phone, one location permission for each app, and a precise-or-approximate choice under any app you have allowed. Google documents that with device location off, emergency location services or your mobile carrier can still send your device's location to emergency responders when you call or text an emergency number.