“Find my Friends” is a special widget on macOS, thanks to which you can always track directly from the Notification Center the location of your friends or family members, of course, if they have given you access. In this article we will talk about how to activate this feature and what features it has.
Once logged in, find and click on the familiar Find My Friends app icon. A list of your friends will display on the left, with a map on the right. Click on a friend to view his or her precise.
How to Use Find My Friends on a Mac, On the off chance that you need to give this a shot with a companion or relative, first enact the gadget, then have possibly them or yourself share your present area from Messages on iPhone and iPad, impart their area to you from the 'Find Friends' application that is preinstalled on each iPhone, or from the Maps application on a Mac. The Find My app combines Find My iPhone and Find My Friends into a single app for iOS 13, iPadOS, and macOS Catalina.
The “Find my Friends” feature is available on a Mac with OS X 10.11.x (El Capitan) or a more fresh version of the OS installed. And, of course, in the “Find my Friends” application on the iPhone, at least someone should give you access to your location. How to organize this process can be found in our detailed article.
How to Activate and Use the “Find my Friends” Feature in macOS?
First you need to activate the widget:
- Open the “Notification Center” on Mac, and you can do this by ticking the icon in the upper right corner of the display in the menu bar, or by swiping with two fingers on the trackpad;
- Click the “Today” tab;
- At the bottom of the “Notification Center”, click on the “Edit” button;
- Add the “Find my Friends” widget;
- Click the “Done” button;
- Provide access to the current geo-location by clicking the “Allow” button.
Read more:How to Quickly Type an Emoji on a Mac?
After activating the widget in the list there will be contacts that share access to their location, and tapping on any of them will display a small window with a map. If you double-click on the user icon on the map, the Apple Maps application will start.
What can the “Find my Friends” widget on macOS?
Here some useful features of “Find Friends” widget:
- Display the location of users on the map right in the Notification Center;
- Show contact card in the address book, if you click on the user’s avatar;
- You can navigate directly on the thumbnail of the map by holding the cursor and left-clicking the mouse;
- Scale the image on the map (approximation – double click with the left mouse button, distance – the ⌥ Option (Alt) key on the keyboard);
- Open the location of the user in the program Apple Maps, if you double-click on the icon of a person on the map.
Concluison
As you can see, the widget is simple and quite interactive. It will help to share your geo-location with your friends in some situations. This will be a very useful function. On the other hand, this implies constantly enabled geo-location services that will consume device energy. If you still decide to use this function regularly, I recommend taking care of the security of your device, Apple ID and carefully use open Wi-Fi networks.
How to Set up and Use Find My Friends on Mac – How to Use Find My Friends on Mac Computer:
Find My Friends is very useful tool for all Mac users. On your Mac System, you can use Find My Friends Widget and also access it at www.iCloud.com/fmf. The Find My Friends allows you to see locations of your friends and family members from Mac. You can discover the Widget in the Notification Center of your Mac computer.
Contents
- 1 What is Find My Friends?
- 2 Requirements to use Find My Friends App and Service
- 3 Set up Find My Friends App and Add Friends on iOS Device:
- 4 How to Set up and Use Find My Friends on Mac
What is Find My Friends?
Find My Friends is an application for iPhone and other iOS devices. If you want to use Find My Friend on Mac, you can use Find My Friends Widget in Notification Center or go to www.iCloud.com/fmf in a Web Browser.
The Find My Friends (FMF) allows you to share your location with your friends and relatives. You can also track your friends’ locations in Find My Friend App on iOS device and Find My Friend Widget on Mac.
Importance of Find My Friends
Find My Friends is a very useful app for almost everyone. If you are a parent, you always want to keep your kids safe. The Find My Friends allows you to keep an eye on your kids’ locations from your home or office. You can also add your close friends to Find My Friends App to see their location and share your location with them as well.
Requirements to use Find My Friends App and Service
You can use Find My Friends after setting it up on your iOS device and Mac System. But you must fulfill the basic requirements of FMF before you set it up on your devices.
- Your iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch must have iOS 8.0 or Newer Version.
- Your Apple Watch must have watchOS 3 or Newer Version.
- If FMF is not already on your iOS device then you should firstly download and install Find My Friends App on it.
- The Web Browser on your Mac PC or MacBook is up to date i.e. Latest Version.
Things to Do Before You Set up Find My Friends on Mac:
You have to use Find My Friends App on an iOS device to share your location. If you want to see your friend’s location, your friend must have an iOS device with Find My Friends App installed in it.
After you share your location, you can ask to follow friends using the iOS app and see their locations using Find My Friends in iCloud.com on Mac. You can also track your friends’ locations from your Mac’s Notification Center.
Set up Find My Friends App and Add Friends on iOS Device:
Before you share your location to your friends using Find My Friends in iCloud.com on Mac, you need to set it up first on your iOS device. You can use an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch to set up Find My Friends App and Add Friends.
You can share your location with the people who are already added as friends. The same way, you can see the locations of people who have you in their friends list of Find My Friends App on their iOS device.
How To Download Find My Friends On Mac Desktop
Steps to Set up Find My Friends App and Add Friends on iOS Device:
01. Turn On Data Connection or WiFi on your iOS device and go to App Store.
02. Search Find My Friends App and download it. (Skip first two steps if you already have FMF App on your device.)
03. Get back to home screen and launch Find My Friends App on your iOS device.
04. Select “Add” option to go to Add Friend Screen.
05. Tap on “To…” field and type your friend’s contact name, email address or phone number.
06. Tap Send or Done to send request to your friend.
After your friend agrees to share their location, you can see their location in a list or on a map. Your friend can share their location for one hour or until the end of the day or share indefinitely. You can see your friend’s location in Find My Friends App, in iCloud.com on Mac and in the Notification Center of Mac.
Can't Find Downloads On Mac
How to Set up and Use Find My Friends on Mac
Before we proceed to set up Find My Friends on Mac, you need to complete some basic tasks. You must have set up Find My Friends App and added all the friends on your iOS device.
You can see your friends’ locations and share your location in Find My Friends Web App at iCloud.com on Mac. But you cannot add new friends on Mac, you have to perform that task on your iPhone or other iOS device.
01. On your Mac Desktop, find three dots with three lines at upper right corner and click on it to open the Notification Center.
02. Find out “Today” tab and select it, then go to bottom and click on “Edit” option.
03. Navigate to Find My Friends widget and click on green color “(+)” button given nearby the widget name.
04. A popup will show up as “Find My Friends” would like to use your current location. Click on “Allow” button and then click on “Done.”
How To Download Find My Friends On Macbook
05. Wait for one or two moments and the names of friends will show up on your Mac’s Notification Center.
Please note that the Notification Center will show up list of friends only who are currently sharing their location with you. If none of your friends are sharing their location, your Mac’s Notification Center won’t show any names.
06. From your friends list mentioned in Notification Center, click on one friend’s name to see a small map showing their location.
In this way, you can set up and use Find My Friends Widget on Mac System. You can check each friend’s location by clicking on their names in the Notification Center of Mac.
Key Features of Find My Friends on Mac
Find My Friends allows you to share your location with your friends and see their locations as well. Here we provide some key features of Find My Friends Widget on Mac as follows:
- Click on Person’s Name to see their location on Map on Mac.
- Click on Person’s Picture to see their contact card on Mac screen.
- Press Double Click on Person’s Picture to open their location in the Maps app.
- Press Double Click on the Map to zoom in on the Map location.
- Hold Option/ALT and click on the Map to zoom out of the Map location.
- After seeing person’s location, click and drag on the Map to navigate with the Map.
You should use the above features in Find My Friends Widget on Mac as per your requirement.
Final Words:
All the information given above about how to set up and use Find My Friends on Mac is true and fair. In case you want to know more about Find My Friends App and how to use it on iPhone, Mac etc., kindly contact the Apple Helpline Number at 1-800-MY-APPLE (800-692-7753) or visit Apple Support Website at support.apple.com.