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!

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

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Comments

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

Jennifer

Posted by: Jennifer Clarke at September 21, 2010 10:32 AM

Thanks so much :)

Posted by: Sarah at September 29, 2010 10:35 PM

AWESOME!!!! Thank you! :)

Posted by: Lynn at October 9, 2010 5:26 PM

Great! Thanks so much!!!

Posted by: Laura at November 4, 2010 6:22 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!

Posted by: Erika at November 5, 2010 9:17 PM

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

Posted by: Damon at November 7, 2010 2:23 PM

Thanks! This was so helpful!

Posted by: Zoraya at November 10, 2010 9:23 AM

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

Posted by: Belle at November 16, 2010 11:05 PM

That totally fixed the problem!!! Thank you.

Posted by: julie at November 17, 2010 1:11 PM

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

Posted by: jessica at November 17, 2010 4:41 PM

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

Posted by: Claire at November 19, 2010 3:19 PM

Thank you was starting to get very annoyed.

Posted by: Emma at November 21, 2010 2:33 PM

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

Posted by: Bob at November 22, 2010 2:11 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!!!

Posted by: fiona at December 1, 2010 5:19 PM

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

Posted by: Ginny at December 4, 2010 4:56 PM

Thank you Dave:)

Posted by: Dawn at December 7, 2010 4:07 PM

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.

Posted by: Sidney at December 8, 2010 11:08 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.

Posted by: DibyDin at December 19, 2010 3:48 AM

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

Posted by: sandra at December 21, 2010 4:38 AM

Bingo! Thanks for the help.

Posted by: BVCdog at December 28, 2010 2:16 PM

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

Posted by: Graham at December 30, 2010 10:03 PM

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

Posted by: Narjiss at January 3, 2011 4:03 PM

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

Posted by: Nicki at January 26, 2011 8:43 PM

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

Posted by: Ashley at January 28, 2011 9:40 AM

Dave you are a Genius! An absolute Genius!

Posted by: Lisa Lou at February 10, 2011 4:18 PM

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!!!

Posted by: heidi at February 11, 2011 7:07 AM

OMG! You're awesome!!

Thanks man! Finally it worked for me!

And on Tweetdeck geo tagging too :)

Posted by: Syazana at February 18, 2011 7:08 AM

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

Posted by: Katie at February 20, 2011 9:59 PM

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

Posted by: AJ at February 24, 2011 8:42 AM

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

Viv.

Posted by: vivienne at February 26, 2011 4:03 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

Posted by: Mary-anne at February 27, 2011 2:27 PM

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

Posted by: diana at March 1, 2011 9:39 PM

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

Posted by: heather at March 10, 2011 9:32 PM

Jackster says thank you Dave

Posted by: nid at March 12, 2011 3:47 AM

OMG! THANKS SO MUCH WHAT A HELP THIS WAS!

Posted by: ANN at March 12, 2011 10:18 PM

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

Posted by: Yesi at March 13, 2011 10:25 AM

arghhh thank you so much man!!!!

Posted by: Beebee at March 15, 2011 9:03 AM

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

Posted by: idk at March 16, 2011 10:32 PM

Thaaankksssss a lot dude. :D

Posted by: Joyy at March 19, 2011 12:46 AM

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

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

Posted by: Doug at March 23, 2011 7:46 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.

Posted by: Lisa Mo at March 27, 2011 3:45 PM

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!

Posted by: katrina at April 1, 2011 9:50 AM

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

Posted by: Trish at April 4, 2011 9:12 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!

Posted by: Sarah at April 5, 2011 11:58 AM

cheers lad...good one

Posted by: sm at April 9, 2011 3:16 PM

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!

Posted by: Kylie at April 10, 2011 3:00 AM

You..... ROCK.

Posted by: Tari at April 29, 2011 1:03 PM

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

Posted by: Jan Granat at May 9, 2011 11:05 AM

Thank you so much, that really helped !

Posted by: Sam at May 15, 2011 2:21 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!

Posted by: M Santos at June 28, 2011 11:39 AM

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

Posted by: Alex at July 4, 2011 7:12 AM

OMG thanks so much :)
your a LEGEND :P

Posted by: anj at July 6, 2011 4:34 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.

Posted by: Marie at July 7, 2011 8:29 PM

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

Posted by: yunyun at July 30, 2011 6:57 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.

Posted by: brooke at August 14, 2011 2:41 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!

Posted by: Judith at August 15, 2011 3:41 PM

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

This will solve your problem..
Have fun

Posted by: jaytiedra at August 20, 2011 4:42 AM

"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?

Posted by: Marty at August 20, 2011 5:03 PM

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?

Posted by: shayer saraf at September 5, 2011 4:46 AM

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

Posted by: Ramsex at September 16, 2011 8:55 AM

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.

Posted by: Mike at September 18, 2011 7:06 PM

This post is so helpful! Thanks much! :)

Posted by: PKem at October 21, 2011 2:40 AM

I have something to say, now that you mention it, but ...

I do have a lot to say, and questions of my own for that matter, but first I'd like to say thank you for all your efforts on this Web site by buying you a cup of coffee!

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