How can I make the "Find My" app update d… (2024)

mrmcderm Author

6 points

There are 5 of us in my family, and we all have family sharing enabled. As a result, I can see everyone's devices (combination of phones, watches, and iPads) and they can see mine. There are 3 children, and 2 adults (including myself), and we all sign into our devices with our own iCloud accounts.

When I use the Find My app, I see a list of all our devices and usually within 10-15 seconds I see the update spinner next to most of the devices and assuming they can connect to LTE or WiFi I see the location update. Except for my wife's devices.

I see very inconsistent and delayed updates for both my wife's iPhone (13 Pro Max) and watch (Series 5). Both have the latest versions of iOS and watchOS. Often the position updates on her devices are hours or even days old. For example, my wife and daughter are out and about and just now I took a look and my daughter's iPhone (7) and watch (Series 5) updated their locations within 15 seconds or so, but my wife's phone is showing a last position from about an hour ago and her watch is showing its position from yesterday afternoon...even though I know for a fact her phone is in her purse and her watch is on her wrist.

As I stare at the app while typing this, I can see my daughter's and my sons' devices occasionally show the update spinner and refresh their locations, but never my wife's devices.

Is there some sort of setting I'm missing on my wife's devices to update more often? Is there some sort of setting on my phone I'm missing? There doesn't seem to be any way to force the Find My app to force a location update. Is it because my kids are minors, and my wife is an adult? Does Find My treat the devices and the subsequent update frequency differently? Should I open a support ticket with Apple on this?