Wed. Jul 3rd, 2024

How to track a parked car’s location on the iPhone<!-- wp:html --><div></div> <div> <p>Your iPhone can automatically drop a pin in Apple Maps when you park your car. iOS derives this through your connection to your car audio system, based on Bluetooth or CarPlay. When you unplug or turn off the car and walk away, the location you left is where your iPhone thinks you parked your car.</p> <p>However, this feature may not work for you like a family member did. In fact, they couldn’t even find the option, which is usually in <em>Settings</em> † <em>Cards</em> as <em>Show parked location</em>†</p> <p>Apple mediates this feature through privacy settings. It requires you to have <em>Settings</em> † <em>Privacy</em> † <em>Location Services</em> turned on and that <em>Settings</em> † <em>Privacy</em> † <em>Location service</em>s > <em>System Services</em> † <em>Important locations</em> is also set to <em>on</em>†</p> <div class="extendedBlock-wrapper block-coreImage center"> <div class="wp-block-image"> You can only track your location when you park if you have enabled Important Locations in your location settings. </div> </div> <p>The reason? Apple infers important locations for you through many signals and stores them in important locations. It distracts your home, work, school and other important places that you visit repeatedly. iOS doesn’t drop a pin on a frequently visited location.</p> <p>The idea must be that the feature would be annoying to people with that feature turned off, as they would drop a pin every time they parked in front of their house or in a work parking lot. So Apple doesn’t even make it available.</p> <h2>Ask Mac 911</h2> <p>We’ve put together a list of the most frequently asked questions, along with answers and links to columns: read our super frequently asked questions to see if your question is there. If not, we are always looking for new problems to solve! Email yours to mac911@macworld.com, including screenshots where appropriate and if you’d like to use your full name. Not every question is answered, we don’t answer email and we can’t provide direct advice to solve problems.</p> </div><!-- /wp:html -->

Your iPhone can automatically drop a pin in Apple Maps when you park your car. iOS derives this through your connection to your car audio system, based on Bluetooth or CarPlay. When you unplug or turn off the car and walk away, the location you left is where your iPhone thinks you parked your car.

However, this feature may not work for you like a family member did. In fact, they couldn’t even find the option, which is usually in SettingsCards as Show parked location

Apple mediates this feature through privacy settings. It requires you to have SettingsPrivacyLocation Services turned on and that SettingsPrivacyLocation services > System ServicesImportant locations is also set to on

You can only track your location when you park if you have enabled Important Locations in your location settings.

The reason? Apple infers important locations for you through many signals and stores them in important locations. It distracts your home, work, school and other important places that you visit repeatedly. iOS doesn’t drop a pin on a frequently visited location.

The idea must be that the feature would be annoying to people with that feature turned off, as they would drop a pin every time they parked in front of their house or in a work parking lot. So Apple doesn’t even make it available.

Ask Mac 911

We’ve put together a list of the most frequently asked questions, along with answers and links to columns: read our super frequently asked questions to see if your question is there. If not, we are always looking for new problems to solve! Email yours to mac911@macworld.com, including screenshots where appropriate and if you’d like to use your full name. Not every question is answered, we don’t answer email and we can’t provide direct advice to solve problems.

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