How to Keep Your Location on Life360 in One Place (2024)

Life360 is not designed to stay in one place. It serves as a GPS and location-tracking app. It monitors your every move and provides accurate data on where, when, and how fast you move. 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 and is hard to spoof. Leaving your phone in one place while roaming the streets is logical, 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 Life360 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. However, you can disable Wi-Fi and cellular data for Life 360, specifically on iOS/iPhone. Android users don’t have that direct option, but they can turn off the background running of mobile data when they close the app (more on this later). Unfortunately, that changes if LIfe360 is running or opened. Besides having no internet connection, others in your group will quickly see something has gone amiss. Plus, it might not be enough to spoof your whereabouts.

How to Turn Off Mobile Data in the Life360 App on iOS/iPhone

To turn the Life360 cellular data off on IOS/iPhone, do the following:

1. Access the “Settings” icon from the home screen or scroll to the left until you reach the “App Library” and tap the “Settings” icon.
2. Scroll and choose “Cellular” in the app section.
3. Tap “Life360” in the app section to turn it off.

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

You need a VPN like ExpressVPN or a fake location app to spoof your location on Life360. Check out how to use a VPN with Android for VPN integration. 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 remember that most 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. There’s no need to tamper with any of the settings. You leave one mobile 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 it 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 when you are not using it. For that reason, turning off the internet without disabling Background App Refresh might not keep you in one place.

Hot to Disable Life360 Background Refresh on iOS/iPhone

This feature, for example, is accessible via the Settings app on an iPhone and Android. Here’s how to spoof your Life360 location on iOS/iPhone.

1. Access “Settings” by tapping on the home screen, using Siri, or scrolling to the right and opening it in the App Library.
   
2. Navigate to and select “Life360” from the app list.
3. Toggle off “Background app refresh.”

This way, you’re 100% certain that the location won’t update when Wi-Fi is off.

How to Disable Life360 Background Refresh on Android

1. Open “Settings” via the home screen, app drawer, pull-down menu, or “Hey Google.”
   
2. Select “Apps & notifications.”
   
3. Tap “See all ### apps” found below the recently opened apps.
   
4. Navigate to and select “Life360.”
   
5. Choose “Mobile data & Wi-Fi.”
   
6. Toggle “Background data” off.
   

The Life360 app will now show the last known location but will report the current one if it is opened due to the background-only setting. You can block running it in the background, but not Wi-Fi or mobile data like iOS/iPhone.

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 allows you 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.

Moreover, 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 differ on Android.

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

Life360 uses a good chunk of battery power 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.

Turn on Battery Saver for Life360 Android App:

1. Open “Settings” via the home screen, app drawer, or using “Hey Google.”
   
2. Select “Apps & notifications.”
   
3. Tap “See all ### apps” found below the recently opened apps.
   
4. Navigate to and select “Life360.”
   
5. Select “Advanced.”
   
6. Choose “Battery.”
   
7. Select “Battery optimization.”
   
8. Choose “Life360.”
   
9. Tap on “Optimize” followed by “Done.”
   

Remember, you’re not optimizing Life360’s performance; you’re optimizing Android’s, which should override Life360’s settings. You’re optimizing battery usage, restricting what LIfe360 can do.

Note: You’ll use “Device Care” on Samsung phones to manage your battery-saving feature. Tap on “Device Care” and turn the “Life360 Background app refresh” off under the “Battery” settings.

Both Android and iPhone users have low-power mode options. Android users can choose between “High Performance,” “Optimized,” “Medium,” and “Maximum power-saving” options. The default is set to not reduce performance on the app, of course.

“Maximum Power Saving” only allows essential processes on your phone to run, so you probably want to select this one 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 the button in the next window to toggle off the feature.
   • Rather than keeping you in one place, this prevents the app from tracking your movement, speed, and location. This option might work great if you want a quick drive somewhere, but other circle members will know you’ve disabled Drive Detection.
2. There’s also an option to turn off “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 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 to avoid raising any suspicions.

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.

FAQs: Freeze Location/Keep Life360 in One Place

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 lets you set two places for alerts (i.e., the child has arrived at school). Despite this method’s benefits, hundreds of TikTok videos show 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. However, it will also show that your phone is off. Life360 also displays your battery percentage, 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 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.