How do I improve an inaccurate location?

PRO TIP!  If you are having trouble locating someone in your Circle, the problem is usually with the connection and signal on their phone, not yours. Be sure to share this FAQ with them so they can check their settings. 

Make sure each phone has all location services turned ON, including GPS and WiFi. Turning GPS on for your phone does not improve the accuracy of your Circle member's locations- they must turn this ON for their phone.

Turning on WiFi on your device dramatically improves location accuracy, even if you are not actively connected to a WiFi network. Your device uses the WiFi sensor to detect nearby WiFi base stations and narrow your exact location based on that information. With WiFi turned on, your device can quickly locate you within the bounds of a building; but with WiFi turned off, your location accuracy can be off by more than a mile as your device needs to rely on less precise location inputs (e.g. the location of cell phone towers).

NOTE: CDMA cell carriers (including Verizon, Sprint, and US Cellular) do not always support internet while on a phone call. If your cell provider does not support internet while on a phone call, our system will not be able to update your movement, driving behaviors or detect a collision if you are on a phone call.

TIP: A member can only be logged into one device at a time. For example, if you get a new phone, you should log out of Life360 on the old phone before logging into the app on the new phone. Many connection and location problems can be caused by being logged into multiple devices at the same time. More info here.

All Phones ~ Settings for Best Accuracy

• A VPN will interfere with accuracy - do not use a VPN with Life360.
• Keep WiFi turned on even when not connected, Wifi can detect the location of routers, helping to improve location accuracy.
• Vehicles with Wifi Hotspot - using this will prevent accurate location and drive details from being collected by the app since your signal provider's location moves with your phone.
• Mobile hotspots - will not provide accurate location as the Wifi signal is not based on a fixed physical location.
• Cellular Data - Life360 must be allowed to use cellular data to function properly.
• 'Mobile data' OR 'Data usage’ setting: turn ‘Data saver’ off. Turn on ‘Mobile data’
  OR turn off 'Limit mobile data usage' (Android phones).
• Location permissions need to be set to 'Always' allow location use.
• 'Physical Activity' permissions need to be on and 'Allowed'.
• 'Precise Location' needs to be turned on.
• If the phone has run out of battery or been turned off, open the Life360 app again to refresh your account and location, otherwise it may still show the phone is turned off or out of battery.
• Parental control and security apps may prevent Life360 from accessing location when needed.
• Apps that have not been opened in three days may go into 'sleep mode' on Android phones.
• Life360 in 'sleep mode' will not update a member's location.
• Open Life360 every two days to prevent it from going into 'sleep mode'.
• Log out of Life360, force close the app from the background, and turn off the device for at least two minutes to refresh it.

Android Phone Settings

• 'Data usage' setting: turn on 'Background data' and turn on 'Unrestricted data usage"
• OR you may see: ‘Mobile Data’ setting: turn on ‘Allow background data usage’ and ‘Allow app while Data saver on’.
• ‘Notifications’ setting: these settings should be turned on in order to receive Place alerts, driving alerts and other notifications from the app.
• 'Battery optimization' setting needs to be 'Not optimized'.

iPhone Settings

• Location Setting needs to be set to 'Always'. Using the setting 'While in Use' will not allow the app to work correctly or maintain location accurately.
• Precise Location: needs to be turned on for Life360 to show an accurate location.
• Low Power Mode: needs to be turned off. Low Power mode prevents Life360 from updating in the background.
• Background App Refresh: needs to be turned on.
• Motion and Fitness: needs to be turned on.
• Time Sensitive Notifications: these need to be "allowed" to see alert notifications from Life360 as they happen, instead of seeing them at a later time when you open your phone.
• See the screenshots below for correct iPhone settings.