iOS 27 adds a new option to Apple’s Find My app that lets users temporarily hide their location from specific people without sending them a notification. The feature gives users more control over location sharing, while also changing what happens when someone pauses sharing.
The new Hide Location option appears in the People section of Find My under My Location. When enabled, the selected person sees that your location is unavailable, while your previous location-sharing setting is restored after the temporary period.
How Hide Location Works
The Hide Location option lets you pause location sharing with a specific person rather than turning off location sharing for everyone. In the current iOS 27 implementation, the location can be hidden for up to 12 hours before returning to its previous shared state.
When location sharing is hidden, the other person does not receive a notification telling them that you stopped sharing your location. Their Find My view instead shows that your location cannot currently be found.
Apple’s support documentation for iOS 27 also describes Hide Location as a way to pause sharing with an individual, while keeping the option to continue viewing that person’s location.
Find My Also Adds Custom Sharing Durations
iOS 27 expands location sharing beyond the fixed options available in previous versions. Users can now choose a custom duration for sharing their location, including a specific number of days, hours, and minutes, or set an exact date and time for sharing to end.
This is separate from Hide Location. Custom durations control how long your location remains shared, while Hide Location temporarily pauses sharing with selected people.
Why The Change Matters For Privacy
The new option gives people a way to temporarily pause location sharing without changing their broader Find My setup. Apple has described the feature as useful for situations such as planning a surprise, where revealing a temporary location change could spoil the event.
At the same time, the lack of a notification means the person being excluded is not directly told that their access has been paused. That difference has prompted discussion about privacy, trust, and the expectations people may have when they share their location with friends, family members, or partners.
The feature can therefore serve different purposes depending on how people use location sharing. It can provide more personal control over location data, while also making temporary changes less visible to the people who normally have access.
How Find My Location Sharing Worked Before
Before iOS 27, Find My offered preset sharing periods including one hour, until the end of the day, or indefinitely. Users could also stop sharing their location with a specific person, but changing the sharing state could make the change more apparent to the other person.
iOS 27 adds more flexibility by combining custom sharing durations with the ability to temporarily hide your location from selected people.
iOS 27 Is Available Now
iOS 27 is now available for iPhone 11 and newer models. The Find My location-sharing changes are separate from Siri AI and other Apple Intelligence features, which require newer supported iPhone models.
