Why can't Facebook Places find my location on the iPhone?

I'm baffled! I want to start using Facebook Places when I'm in public venues (having read your article yesterday about Facebook Places and Privacy, thanks for that!) but it can't ever find my location. Is there some secret to getting it to work on my iPhone 4?

Dave's Answer:

Wait! You haven't sacrificed twin goats, one to Facebook and one to Apple? Well, there's your problem! :-)

More seriously, while Facebook seems to default to minimal privacy, Apple tends more towards protecting your privacy than otherwise, and so it is likely the situation in this case too: your iPhone (well, iOS 4 on your iPhone, to be accurate) is refusing to let Facebook know your location because you haven't explicitly enabled that feature yet.

I had the same situation when I started experimenting with Facebook Places, so I know the most likely places where you need to tweak your settings to get things working properly.

First off, make sure you have the latest version of Facebook on your iPhone: you can tell because it has the Places icon right there smack-dab in the middle of the screen:

Tap on the icon and you'll see where your friends are, but not relative to your own location (which makes sense). On the top right is a "Check In" button. Tap on that and you'll see:

Yeah, that's probably where you're stuck, right?

Go back to your home screen on your Apple iPhone 4, and go to Settings, then look for General. Tap on it and you'll see...

You want to tweak your Location Settings. Tap on that.

Ah ha! I had Facebook blocked from using Location Services, so the phone refused to let the app know my current lat/long location. Good, unless I want Facebook on the iPhone to know where I am. To fix it, just slide the control to "ON".

Now, go back to the Facebook app, tap on Places again, and you'll see that it now knows your location and gives you the location of people relative to your own location:

Even cooler, tap on "Check In" and after just a second or two (it's way faster than Foursquare, I have to say) it shows you a list of known venues near your location:

I'll complete the tutorial by checking in at a favorite coffee shop in town, Atlas Purveyors. I tap on the venue name and it shows me the location and who is currently here:

Once more a "Check In" button to tap and, once I do...

That's all there is to it. Oh, and on Facebook? Here's what my friends saw:

Cool. Once you address the privacy issues, it's definitely pretty slick stuff, this Facebook Places!

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Categorized: Facebook Help , iPhone and Cell Phone Help (Article 9567, Written by Dave Taylor)
Tagged: apple iphone 3gs, facebook places, facebook privacy, foursquare, geolocation, iphone 4, iphone location services, privacy, security
Previous: Facebook Places and privacy: What you need to tweak
Next: Review: Gyrotate for the Apple iPhone

Reader Comments To Date: 71

Jennifer Clarke said, on September 21, 2010 10:32 AM:

Thank you, Dave! Totally fixed my "problem" with Places and foursquare. You rock.

Jennifer

Sarah said, on September 29, 2010 10:35 PM:

Thanks so much :)

Lynn said, on October 9, 2010 5:26 PM:

AWESOME!!!! Thank you! :)

Laura said, on November 4, 2010 6:22 PM:

Great! Thanks so much!!!

Erika said, on November 5, 2010 9:17 PM:

Hi Dave- It's Erika from Bailey Gardiner. I was having problems figuring this out and of course Facebook was no help. I googled the topic and you were the first link to come up! Yay! Thanks for answering my question. :) Hope to see you soon!

Damon said, on November 7, 2010 2:23 PM:

Many thanks for this article, places now working on my iPhone after finding your site on a Google search. Greatly appreciated!

Zoraya said, on November 10, 2010 9:23 AM:

Thanks! This was so helpful!

Belle said, on November 16, 2010 11:05 PM:

Hey Dave,
Just wondering if you need OS4 to be able to enter Location
Because when i went into settings then general my locations was just "on" and off"

Regards
Belle

julie said, on November 17, 2010 1:11 PM:

That totally fixed the problem!!! Thank you.

jessica said, on November 17, 2010 4:41 PM:

thank you soooooo much! this is THE MOST helpful thing on the web

Claire said, on November 19, 2010 3:19 PM:

After days of frustration I found this page and problem solved in five seconds flat. Thanks!

Emma said, on November 21, 2010 2:33 PM:

Thank you was starting to get very annoyed.

Bob said, on November 22, 2010 2:11 PM:

Thank you very much. This was doing my head in...

fiona said, on December 1, 2010 5:19 PM:

I have SEARCHED AND SEARCHED.. THIS WAS THE ONLY SITE THAT HAS HELPED... I WAS GETTING SO ANGRY WITH MY IPHONE 4!!
Thank you so much!!!

Ginny said, on December 4, 2010 4:56 PM:

Awesome!!! I have been farting around with this for months.

Dawn said, on December 7, 2010 4:07 PM:

Thank you Dave:)

Sidney said, on December 8, 2010 11:08 AM:

I am able to check in to most locations and add locations that aren't automatically found...however, when I try to check in to one place It shows, the check in icon and, "No nearby place. Tap the + key to add a place." I would easily add a place, like any other time, BUT there is no + sign...please help.

DibyDin said, on December 19, 2010 3:48 AM:

I am still struggling. I have the latest iOS and FB versions and the Location services is ON but when i click "check in", i get the error "Unable to load this page".
I can see frnds location but just unable to check my self in.

sandra said, on December 21, 2010 4:38 AM:

Thanks for this David, I was going crazy trying to solve this problem!

BVCdog said, on December 28, 2010 2:16 PM:

Bingo! Thanks for the help.

Graham said, on December 30, 2010 10:03 PM:

You're saving loads of people from going round the twist, including me. Cheers.

Narjiss said, on January 3, 2011 4:03 PM:

Great tip!!! Thank you! I was getting nuts searching and searching!

Nicki said, on January 26, 2011 8:43 PM:

Thank you! My iPhone was about to meet a wall at high speed, but you've fixed my problem!

Ashley said, on January 28, 2011 9:40 AM:

THANK YOU!!!
This was such an easy fix (if I just knew where to look!)
You're the best!

Lisa Lou said, on February 10, 2011 4:18 PM:

Dave you are a Genius! An absolute Genius!

heidi said, on February 11, 2011 7:07 AM:

WOW that was quick. Now when I'm the road all my friends will be able to see where I've been, I love it. Thanks so much!!!

Syazana said, on February 18, 2011 7:08 AM:

OMG! You're awesome!!

Thanks man! Finally it worked for me!

And on Tweetdeck geo tagging too :)

Katie said, on February 20, 2011 9:59 PM:

Thanks so much!
Easy fix once you know what's wrong!
Cheers.

AJ said, on February 24, 2011 8:42 AM:

Dude!You are awesome! This was bugging me for so long and you solved it in a flash!Supercool!\m/

vivienne said, on February 26, 2011 4:03 PM:

thank u dave u answered my question and gave me the exact info i was looking for.

Viv.

Mary-anne said, on February 27, 2011 2:27 PM:

My GOSH!
Something as simple as changing that one thing in my settings made the WORLD of difference.. Mr.. YOU ROCK!!
Thanks so much

diana said, on March 1, 2011 9:39 PM:

Thank you!!!! This was so annoying. Glad I found this. It works! I love you!

heather said, on March 10, 2011 9:32 PM:

Awesome! Thank you so much! It was driving me crazy not being able to figure this thing out.

nid said, on March 12, 2011 3:47 AM:

Jackster says thank you Dave

ANN said, on March 12, 2011 10:18 PM:

OMG! THANKS SO MUCH WHAT A HELP THIS WAS!

Yesi said, on March 13, 2011 10:25 AM:

omg thank you , you save my day ,i was going crazy trying to solve it! :D

Beebee said, on March 15, 2011 9:03 AM:

arghhh thank you so much man!!!!

idk said, on March 16, 2011 10:32 PM:

thank you so much for the info.....i cant believe it was something so extremely simple to change.

Joyy said, on March 19, 2011 12:46 AM:

Thaaankksssss a lot dude. :D

Doug said, on March 23, 2011 7:46 PM:

I will now blow something up in your honor! Gracias!

PS. I'm now checked in at White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico.

Lisa Mo said, on March 27, 2011 3:45 PM:

At last, this has totally solved my problem on Facebook re check in, thanks for the info which was so clear and easy to read.

katrina said, on April 1, 2011 9:50 AM:

thanks for this - finally i can check in and annoy my friends with my every move! no seriously, i needed to figure this out for work so thanks!

Trish said, on April 4, 2011 9:12 AM:

OMG!! Thank you so much for helping me fix this. The problem was driving me nuts trying to figure out!!

Sarah said, on April 5, 2011 11:58 AM:

Thank you soooo much! I was getting so frustrated not being able to "check in" places. Now hearing that if you check in at certain stores, you can get exclusive deals! Thank you soooooo much for helping me!

sm said, on April 9, 2011 3:16 PM:

cheers lad...good one

Kylie said, on April 10, 2011 3:00 AM:

Thanks so much!!! its been very frustrating not knowing why I couldn't check in on my iphone 4. After doing a google search found your site and the answer was simple and clear. Thanks again!

Tari said, on April 29, 2011 1:03 PM:

You..... ROCK.

Jan Granat said, on May 9, 2011 11:05 AM:

Perfect.
Thx a lot for this site.
Super information.

Sam said, on May 15, 2011 2:21 AM:

Thank you so much, that really helped !

M Santos said, on June 28, 2011 11:39 AM:

Thanks, Dave - Like the others, I found your helpful solution via Google; and like others it was indeed the iPhone privacy vs a FB issue. My phone was slightly different - but your clear instructions were most helpful!

Alex said, on July 4, 2011 7:12 AM:

My location services on my iPhone 3G is complety unable what can I do???

anj said, on July 6, 2011 4:34 PM:

OMG thanks so much :)
your a LEGEND :P

Marie said, on July 7, 2011 8:29 PM:

When I go to Location Services it is on but the only other item listed is camera, and that is also on. Facebook is not listed.

yunyun said, on July 30, 2011 6:57 PM:

oh my...thx u very very much!!

brooke said, on August 14, 2011 2:41 PM:

i have a 3g and i have the latest version 4.2.1 i cannot use current location on any of my apps. i go to the settings and go to general and then location services and it says it is on but it and the list of apps under it are grayed out and i can't change anything. i can't even disable the location settings. is this because of the versioni i have? can i do something about this. please help i'm so frustrated.

Judith said, on August 15, 2011 3:41 PM:

Thank you for the easy to follow directions and visuals. The directions on facebook didn't work and Att tech told me to take the phone to an apple store that is about 25 miles away.
You are a generous person!

jaytiedra said, on August 20, 2011 4:42 AM:

@brooke: go at settings > general > restrictions and set Location ON..

This will solve your problem..
Have fun

Marty said, on August 20, 2011 5:03 PM:

"Why can't Facebook Places find my location on the iPhone?" - I can find other places and check in fine. I've added my home as a place in facebook. I've claimed it, and I can see it when I look at my on-line profile. But, when I go to check in, it rarely (it has let me check in twice) shows up. I type in exactly the way I've added the home name, but it won't find it. Help?

shayer saraf said, on September 5, 2011 4:46 AM:

okay so i have done the things you told me to and still there was no luck,facebook would still keep on searching for my location.please tell me what else i can do?

Ramsex said, on September 16, 2011 8:55 AM:

Dave, that worked GREAT!!! Thank you so much for your help !!!

Mike said, on September 18, 2011 7:06 PM:

When I try to check in on facebook from my iphone I get "error your update could no be posted at this time" Location setting is on...any suggestions? It was working fine 2 weeks ago..now nothing.

PKem said, on October 21, 2011 2:40 AM:

This post is so helpful! Thanks much! :)

karen said, on February 23, 2012 2:11 PM:

Mine doesnt have the places icon in the middle of the screen, mine has the same pic but it says nearby, i followed the step by step guide but only got as far as finding location services, as that wasnt an option on my ipod touch

Cat said, on June 5, 2012 5:46 AM:

Hi I have tried all the above and still cannot check in to places with my iphone 4s - have rang my service provider and also apple help desk with no luck - any advice please? Thanks!

Steve rubin said, on September 30, 2012 6:45 AM:

iPhone 4 update now I can't check in anywhere ...I get no nearby locations. Went to location services and its on. Any suggestions?

Russell said, on September 30, 2012 12:56 PM:

Hi yeah same as Steve - have used check in fine for ages suddenly as of today always come up no nearby places - my wifes s2 still works fine - i logged out and back in on my iphone - no effect - I removed the fb app and rebooted the iphone before reinstalling - no effect!
Suspicious that this happens so soon after all the ios6 problems is nt it?
I have specifically not updated because I use maps a lot!!
Any suggestions?

David ak said, on September 30, 2012 3:47 PM:

Was working fine till yesterday then suddenly I started getting no places found; however, my friend sitting right next to me who also did the ios6 update had a list of places. Cannot figure it out. It lets me add a place but does not seem to retain it either.

Bucsa Adrian said, on October 1, 2012 5:13 AM:

Ai have the same problem David :| ... if i put in the phone another account of facebook,works just fine this function "check in " but my account has the same problem like yours ! i'm so disappointed :(

Brenna said, on October 1, 2012 8:42 AM:

I too am having the same problem. Just got an iPhone 4s the other day and immediately updated to ios6. When trying to use the check in app on facebook it will show me on a map exactly where I am but it says "no nearby places" and my only option is to create a place. I checked and made sure my location settings were on and they are. Not sure at all what it cane be.

Jayc said, on February 10, 2013 10:45 AM:

Great stuff thanks a lot, really glad I came across this

Khent said, on February 28, 2013 11:51 AM:

Very amazing....imagine how i am frustrated of this little problem....
You are such a genius.....thank you sooooooooooooo much dave....

I do have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but first I'd like to say thank you, Dave, for all your helpful information by buying you a cup of coffee!

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!

Why can't Facebook Places find my location on the iPhone?

Reader Comments To Date: 71

I do have a comment, now that you mention it!

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