How to Keep Your Location on Life360 in One Place

As a GPS and location tracking app, Life360 is not designed to stay in one place. It tracks your every move and provides accurate data on where, when, and how fast you’re moving. Regardless, there are times when you want to go off-grid and hide your whereabouts from the rest of the circle.

The process is easier said than done because the app follows you around, and it’s hard to spoof. Leaving your phone in one place while you’re roaming the streets is a logical thing to do, but then you deprive yourself of the device when there’s no need. Life360 is a piece of software like any other, and there are a few simple tweaks to stop it from breathing down your neck at all times.

Here are a few tips for working around the app’s software and keeping it in one location.

Keep Your Location in One Place in Life360 by Turning Wi-Fi and Cellular Data Off

Shutting off your internet connection disables Life360, and the app usually shows your last location. The obvious downside of this method is that all other apps lose connection too, which limits notifications, messaging apps, and other services. Aside from having no internet connection, others in your group will quickly see that something has gone amiss. Plus, it might not be enough to spoof your whereabouts.

Fortunately, iPhone users can turn the cellular data off from the settings for the Life360 application, while Android users will have to use other methods.

To turn the Life360 cellular data off, iPhone users can go to the Settings on their phone and tap Cellular. Toggle the switch off for Life360. As long as Wi-Fi isn’t available, Life360 won’t be able to report your actual location.

Keep Your Location in One Place in Life360 by Spoofing Your Location

To spoof your location, you need a VPN like ExpressVPN or a fake location app. For VPN integration, we recommend reading our guide on how to use a VPN with your phone. We won’t recommend any particular fake location app because there are plenty of good options on the Google Play Store and Apple App Store. But keep in mind that most of these apps cost money, and the setup can be tricky. Plus, they affect all other apps on your phone.

Keep Your Location in One Place using a Burner Phone

Getting a burner phone is probably the oldest trick in the book. It means you have two phones, and the burner device stays put and has the Life360 installed on it. There’s no need to tamper with any of the settings. You leave one phone and take the other one with you.

The trick here is to think a bit outside the box. For example, if you have an iPad or iPod Touch, you can use that device as a burner or take them with you and make your smartphone the dummy.

Keep Your Location in One Place by Disabling Background App Refresh in Life360

This feature allows apps to run in the background and update information. Life360 uses your smartphone’s GPS and motion tracking. For that reason, turning off the internet without disabling Background App Refresh might not keep you in one place.

This feature, for example, is accessible via the Settings app on an iPhone and Android. Tap the Settings app, navigate down to Life360, and enter the menu. Hit the button next to Background App Refresh to toggle it off. This way, you’re 100% certain that the location won’t update when Wi-Fi is off.

1. Android users will need to go to Settings > Apps >Allow Background Data Usage and tap on Life360.

Android also offers a battery-saving feature for many models.

1. Tap on Device Care and turn the Life360 Background app refresh off under the Battery settings.

Keep Your Location in One Place in Life360 by Turning off Location and Motion

Disabling the motion and location tracking should be enough to keep you in one place. It means you don’t need to turn off Wi-Fi and cellular for the trick to work. However, it’s still advisable to toggle off Background App Refresh.

To put things into perspective, this gives you a chance to grab a long lunch or run an errand without notifying everybody else in your circle. The app still shows the last recorded location and stays in that place until the information is updated.

What’s more, you can set the Location to Ask Next Time, and the app will introduce a pop-up before it starts tracking you. This process was tested on an iPhone, but the feature’s name might be different on Android.

Keep Your Location in One Place in Life360 by Enabling Battery Saving Mode

Life360 uses a lot of battery resources to monitor and report on your location and motion stats. Most of its functions shut off when your battery is below 20%. The same happens when you intentionally trigger the battery-saving mode. But there is a catch.

You’ll need to disable Background App Refresh to ensure the location isn’t getting tracked. It’s unclear whether the app can override the battery saving mode when you trigger it at 50% or 70% full battery.

Both Android and iPhone users have low-power mode options. Android users can choose between High Performance, Optimized, Medium, and Maximum power-saving options.

Maximum Power Saving only allows essential processes in your phone to run, so this is probably the one you want to keep Life360 from running in the background.

Keep Your Location in One Place by Disabling Drive Detection in Life360

1. Launch the app, select Settings, and tap the Drive Detection option; it should be just above the FAQs. You only need to tap on the button in the next window to toggle the feature off.
   • Rather than keeping you in one place, this prevents the app from tracking your movement, speed, as well as location. This option might work great if you want to go for a short drive, but other members of your circle will know you’ve disabled Drive Detection.
2. There’s also an option to disable Location Sharing; tap on it within the Settings Menu and toggle off the button. If you belong to a few different circles, you need to repeat this for each one. Again, the map shows your last location, and there’s a Location Sharing Paused message.

This situation isn’t ideal because it might raise suspicion with the circle administrator and other members. Therefore, you might need to resort to more creative methods.

Uninstall the Life360 App

Finally, the surest way to stay in one place is to uninstall the app. Afterward, the map shows your last location. There’s no tracking, but you’ll probably need to reinstall it not to raise suspicion.

Life360 and Your Location

In closing, keeping Life360 in one place is difficult but not impossible, and you should know that it pretty much disables all emergency services within the app. In other words, you should use these tricks sparingly.

Frequently Asked Questions

If I turn my location off, will it alert others?

Yes, other people in your circle will know if you have Wi-Fi turned off (which isn’t a big deal with unlimited data plans. There’s no need for Wi-Fi all the time) and if you’ve turned your location off.

Is it easy to trick Life360?

If you’re a parent of a teenager or a new driver, it doesn’t get much better than Life360. Even the free option gives you their location and speed, and it lets you set two places for alerts (i.e., the child has arrived at school). Regardless of this method’s benefits, there are hundreds of TikTok videos showing teens how to bypass Life360’s watchful eye. For those who aren’t tech-savvy, tricking the app may seem complicated, but it’s pretty straightforward for anyone who uses technology regularly.

Will Life360 work if the phone is off?

No, it will only show your last location and your last trip. But, it will also show that your phone is off. Super fun fact about Life360; it displays your battery percentage, too, so faking a dead battery may not work.

Can I use Life360 without cellular data?

You will need a phone number to sign into Life360, but you do not need cellular data to run the application. If you’ve chosen to use the burner phone option we’ve listed in this article, all you need is a Wi-Fi connection and the ability to sign in to your Life360 account on the burner phone.