Practical iPhone folder: configure and use the 'Find My Friends' application on iPhone and iPad (Updated)

Article update
with more recent screens, addition of sections

Whether it's meeting friends for an evening, always knowing where
where this or that person is or to reassure worried parents,
Apple's "Find My Friends" application can be very useful. Again
we need to know what she is capable of. This is what this is about
article fromnotre
“In practice” section:

Locate my friends? for what?

There can be many reasons to use this app:

meeting friends for an evening
follow your children on a day of skiing
make sure your guests have gotten home safely
find out if the friend who is supposed to pick you up from the station is on the way
etc.

For the solution to work,two iOS devices are
necessary: one for you and one for the person to follow and
locate. Obviously,there is no question here of tracking someone
without his consent, but we will have the opportunity to talk about it again
a little lower.

First steps

The application, since iOS 9, is no longer called “Find My Friends”, but
simply “My Friends”. You must first go to this
application-là.

Then, you must log in with your Apple ID. To find his
friends, the first thing to do is to have some! It will therefore be necessary for them
request, one by one, permission to track their position. That
walks, of course also with the family.

In either case, it's towards the "Add" button of
the application you need to go for.

Add and follow your friends

Once the add request is sent, the friend receives a notification via
the application. If he accepts the request, an invitation will be sent to you in
feedback so that follow-up can be mutual. From that moment on, both
apps are permanently connected and the possibilities are open to you.

Following a friend means being able to see their position on the map
permanently. From the home screen which brings together all the friends,
clicking on a particular line displays the map in full screen
and access new menus using the bar at the top.

Note also that since iOS 9, awidgetallows you to
Track a friend's location directly in the Notification Center.

The widget regularly displays the location of the person being followed. A support
on the person in question in the widget directly opens the "My Friends" app
and displays the position on the map. Practical !

Advanced functions

Contact: allow
simply access this friend's profile and give them a call
or send a message faster.

Plus: offers several options. Thanks to "label",
it is possible to define such a place as being the domicile, the place of
work, etc. The toy car icon leads to the Maps app
from Apple, which then guides you, via GPS, to the friend in
question. The “Notify me” button refers to the function of the same name (see more
bottom), while the "Notify so-and-so" button allows you to indicate to the friend
question whether we leave or arrive at a place.

Notify me: allows you to define an alert
when a friend leaves or arrives from or to a place. Attention,he is not
possible to define only one alert at a timeby friend.

Configure “Notify me”

After clicking on "Notify me", you must first choose whether you
would like to be notified when the person is going to leave or when they are going to arrive
somewhere. All that then remains is to define this 'somewhere' using the
“Other” button.

By pressing it, the application switches to the map and indicates the
position of the friend in question. If this is not the place that interests you,
a search bar located at the top of the screen allows you to enter the address of
your choice. Once in the right place,it is finally possible to define
a more or less large detection perimeter, simply by
enlarging the circle on the screen. This can range from a few dozen
meters to several kilometers.

Temporary sharing

Previously, My Friends allowed you to share your location in a way
temporary. This feature was removed by Apple for good and
simple reason that it duplicates that offered by iMessage and that
we explained in detail
in this article.

Disable your location

While it can be useful to always know where your friends are, there are
moments during which we would prefer not to be followed. Apple has
thought about this and it is possible to hide its position. To do this, click
simply tap "Me" on the home screen and toggle the 'Share' switch
My Location' to OFF.

And sans iPhone?

The My Friends function is also available on the iCloud.com website (see
here for more details. If you therefore have an iCloud account, no
need an iPhone or iPad to track a friend's location or share that of
the device from which you connect to iCloud.

On the left, the list of contacts who have chosen to give their geolocation
will be displayed and a marker will represent their position on the map
directly.

Parental Control

Last little clarification, parents who wish to prevent their children
to change settings or share their location via My Friends will have to
go to the iPhone settings. In the "General" tab they will find
a section called “Restriction” which will need to be activated if it is not already
done by setting a 4-digit code.

Then scrolling down, click on
“Share my location” and choose the desired setting.

By choosing "Allow no changes", this means that if the
location is permanently activated in My Friends, the person without
the code cannot change anything.

Also read about iOS 9 and its new features: