What's The Difference Between No Location Found and Location Not Available?

While using the Find My app you may sometimes encounter an error message saying, “Location Not Available” or “No Location Found”. These two errors are often quite confusing, especially if it’s the first time you’re seeing them. Many people doesn’t seem to know what both of them exactly mean and how they differ. However, understanding the distinctions between them is essential if you want to effectively manage and understand Find My app location information.

This post provides a detailed overview of the difference between no location found and location not available error messages to give you a clear understanding of them. We’ll also tell you what causes them to occur and share some potential solutions that can help you deal with them. First, though, let’s start with knowing what exactly these errors mean.

What is "No Location Found"?

The “No location found” error message means that the Find My app has not recorded any location due to some external or internal issue. It simply shows the absence of a location for an iPhone, which means it cannot locate your precise location while using GPS. Some scenarios and causes of this “No location found” error include:

• Unavailable Wi-Fi Network or Cell Towers - besides the Satelite, Find My app requires cellular or wireless network signals for it to locate your device. Therefore, if there’s no nearby Wi-Fi network or you’re far from any cell tower that your phone can reliably connect to, then the “No location found” error message is likely to show up.
• Insufficient GPS Signal/Weak Location Accuracy - you’re likely to get the “No location found” error if the GPS signal on your device or on your target device is weak or off. This can also happen when the location accuracy is weak.
• Device or Software Issues - if your iPhone’s system malfunctions or has some problem that causes the location function not to work properly, then you’re likely to see the “No location found” error on your iPhone apps. Glitches or bugs in the Find My app itself can as well cause the error to occur.

These are the most common causes behind the “No location found” error. The error itself may appear in various popular location-based applications or services that you use on your iPhone, including Google Maps, Uber location-based service, Trip Advisor, Pokemon Go, Snapchat, Instagram, and even WhatsApp.

What is "Location Not Available"?

The “Location not available” error means that the Find My app can’t provide any particular location of your device or the device of your friend or family. It signifies an issue with the device’s GPS, most probably that the GPS is blocked by external interference. The error message can occur too when your friend or family stops sharing their location with you. Several key scenarios and causes of this error include:

• Inaccessible Area/Geographical Restrictions - if the location sharing option in Find My app is restricted or not available in the country or region where you’re using the device, the “Location not available” error might show up. You may also see it if you’re in a distant area where GPS and network are inaccessible or manually disabled by law.
• User Privacy Settings/Permissions- you can see the “Location not available” error if you have Location Services turned off in your iPhone’s Privacy Settings. You may not receive any location suggestions either when using Find My if you have not allowed the Precise Location option on your iPhone.
• Network/Server Issues - network inefficiencies like poor Wi-Fi/cellular network service often cause location errors like “Location not available”. The same error can as well occur when Apple Servers are down as the Find My service won’t be operational either.

In case you find yourself in any of these scenarios, then you’ll definitely see this “Location not available” error displayed in applications and services that you’ll try to use, including iMessage, Google Maps, Navigation, Lyft, Pokemon Go, WhatsApp, Snapchat, e.t.c.

What’s the Difference Between No Location Found and Location Not Available

As you’ve seen above, there’s indeed a thin line of difference between no location found and location not available. Both errors result in inaccessibility to location services and some of their causes also seem similar, but still, there are some differences between them, which include.

• The Color - the device remains blank or colorless if no location is found, but when there’s no location data (location not available), the device will be colored and its appearance will be quite clear.
• The Location Services - when the Location Services are turned off across an iPhone, the “No location found” error will appear. However, “No location available” will show up when Location Services as well as the Share My Location option on iPhone are enabled and running but fail to work in the current location.
• The Location Status - the user’s current location is not usually updated instantly by the system when “No location found” error occurs. But, as for “Location not available”, the location status of the user is updated right away when connectivity is restored.
• How They Occur - “No location found” often occurs when the iPhone is offline or it’s switched off. On the other hand, “Location not available” is commonly displayed when Find My app is on but fails to update the current location of the user.
• Network Connection - if the user’s phone can’t use location services due to the internet connection, you’ll get a “No location found” error. This is different from “Location not available” error because it occurs when there’s a network connection but the user’s/target’s current location is not accessible.

Ultimate Tool: Quick Solution to Find My Friends No Location Found and Location Not Available Errors

While basic solutions like restarting your iPhone may fail to resolve the location settings issues across your iPhone, you don’t actually have to go to extreme measures to fix them. What you need is the help of an iOS System Repair tool like FoneGeek iOS System Recovery. With this powerful software, you’ll be able to effectively fix the “No location found” or “Location not available” error fast and with little hassle. It’s an all-in-one repair tool that’s purposely designed to resolve all kinds of iPhone problems, including location settings issues.

What’s more, none of your device’s data gets compromised when you use FoneGeek iOS System Recovery. It keeps the data intact as it fixes all the issues causing your device not to function efficiently. It’s simply the best solution to fixing location issues and errors everywhere on Find My app. Here’s exactly how to use it.

• Download, install, and launch this tool on your computer. Then click on “Standard Mode”.

• Then put your device into Recovery Mode. Once it’s detected by the software, download the right iOS firmware based on your device model.
• When FoneGeek finishes downloading the iOS firmware, hit the “Repair Now” button. FoneGeek will install the iOS firmware on the iPhone and begin the repair process. When it’s done, just click on “Done” to complete the process of fixing your iPhone.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q1. How do I fix the "No Location Found" error?

Troubleshooting “No Location Found” issue is quite simple. To do that:

• Confirm that you’ve turned on all your device’s location services.
• Ensure that your device’s network or GPS connection is strong and stable.
• After that, simply restart the app or device that needs to access the location services.
• Now confirm that all the location permissions for the particular app are allowed.

Q2. How can I resolve "Location Not Available" issue using basic tips?

The best approach to fix “Location not available” is based on what causes it. For example, if the cause is due to your device’s privacy settings, you should review the settings and make sure that location access for the specific application is enabled.

You should also review the application’s settings to confirm that it’s been appropriately set to access location services. If the error occurred as a result of the device limitations, then the fix here may be to upgrade to a newer device.

Q3. What’s the effect of these issues on location-based applications?

The major impact of “Location not available” and “No location found” errors on location-based applications is that they cause them to provide wrong location-based information or services like navigation, personalized recommendations, or local search.

Q4. Can "Location Not Available" and "No Location Found" occur at the same time?

Yes, the two errors can occur concurrently. A good example is when an user disables location access for a certain application and the GPS signal reception of his device is insufficient/poor. In this case, the two error messages may show up on the application.

Q5. How can I Share Location with my family or friends in the Find My app?

You can follow these steps to share your current location with someone else on Find My app.

• Launch Find My on your device and tap on the “People” option. Next, tap on “Start Sharing Location”.
• Select the particular contact that you wish to share your location with.
• Now select the option to “Share Only for One Hour”, “Share Until End of Day”, or “Share Indefinitely” and then simply send the invitation.

Q6. Can I know if a person has disabled their location on their iPhone?

Yes, you can. You need to go to the Find My app where you’ll see the list of all the people that have turned on their location. In case the user you’re looking for doesn’t appear in the list, then chances are that they have their location disabled on their device.

Bonus Tip: Change Your iPhone Location without Jailbreak

You can temporarily change the GPS location of your iPhone quite easily using FoneGeek iOS Location Changer. You won’t have to jailbreak the iPhone or perform some complex trickery. All it takes is installing FoneGeek iOS Location Changer on your computer and following the simple steps provided below. Moreover, you can use this tool with any location-based application, from WhatsApp to Pokemon Go to Facebook to Fitness and Fitbit. Follow these steps to change your iPhone location using FoneGeek iOS Location Changer.

• Get FoneGeek iOS Location Changer from the official site. Install it on your computer. Once installed, launch it and then click the “Enter” button.
• Now use a USB cable to get your iPhone linked to your computer.
• Go to the map on FoneGeek and select the location you wish to change to. Select any point you want around the world.
• After choosing the location, hit the “Start to Modify” option and your location will change right away. The people you shared your location with will now see your new location as selected on FoneGeek.

Conclusion

Now that you’ve gone through this post, we hope you’ve not only learned the difference between no location found and location not available but also what they mean and how to easily fix them. Having a proper understanding of how these two error messages differ is quite important. It will help you easily determine the likely cause behind them and the proper remedy for it to ensure that the Find My app works properly.

However, in case you still face any of these location errors, we recommend you use FoneGeek iOS System Recovery. It’s a powerful iOS system repair tool that will quickly and reliably fix all the location errors regardless of what causes them hence ensuring smooth location-based experiences. It will equally fix any other system issue on your device without causing data loss. In case you also wish to temporarily change or spoof the GPS location of your iPhone, then you can do it quite easily using FoneGeek iOS Location Changer.