How to Pause Your Location on Life360 (2026 Guide)

Yes, you can pause your location on Life360, and your Circle is shown that you did. This guide follows Life360's own help center, read on 7 November 2026 (linked at each step). If you want an app where pausing is a normal, visible switch for everyone, on iPhone and Android alike, that is Warden (top pick); details further down.

Pause Life360: step by step

The Life360 app has the same menus on iPhone and Android (Samsung Galaxy, Google Pixel and others). Per Life360's Share My Location page:

Open the Life360 app.
Tap the Circle Switcher at the top and choose the Circle you want to pause in.
Tap Settings in the upper left corner.
Tap Location Sharing.
Tap the toggle to turn it off.

Life360 says: "When you turn off Location Sharing, other members of your Circle will see 'Location Sharing Paused' under your name. This only affects the Circle you turned it off in." In several Circles? Repeat the steps in each one.

Turn it back on

Same path: Circle Switcher > your Circle > Settings > Location Sharing > toggle on (See a Circle Member's Location). Your dot starts updating again; if it doesn't, see the troubleshooting section below.

What your Circle sees while you're paused

	While Location Sharing is off
Your name in the Circle	"Location Sharing Paused" under it
Your position	No new updates in that Circle
Your battery level	Not shown; Life360 lists "Location sharing paused" among the reasons battery information disappears, and says you can't hide your battery level "unless you turn off location sharing" (Troubleshooting Battery Levels)
Your other Circles	Unchanged unless you pause there too
History already saved	Kept. "Turning off Location Sharing stops future updates, but it doesn't delete the location history Life360 has already collected."

So a pause is visible by design. There is no way to pause that looks like normal sharing to your Circle, and that's a good thing: an honest "Paused" tells your family you chose a break, rather than leaving them staring at a frozen dot and wondering whether your phone died.

What still shares your location while paused

Life360 lists three exceptions on the same help page:

Check In. Tapping Check in shares a nearby location, or one you name, with the Circle.
SOS. Sending an SOS alert shares your location in every Circle you're in. For paid members in the US, Canada, the UK, Australia and New Zealand it also goes to Life360's 24/7 Emergency Dispatch Center.
Crash Detection. If it's on and a collision is detected, your location goes to your Circle and emergency contacts; for paid members in those countries, and Gold members in Austria, Belgium, France, Ireland, Italy and Germany, it also goes to emergency services.

In practice: you can pause for an afternoon with friends and still press SOS if something goes wrong. That's the right design for a safety app.

Other ways to take a break on Life360

Option	How	What the Circle sees	Good for
Pause (Location Sharing off)	Settings > Location Sharing	"Location Sharing Paused"	Hours or days without sharing
Bubble	Tap your avatar > Create a Bubble; up to 25 miles, up to 6 hours	Only that you're in a Bubble	A rough area instead of an exact dot
Temporary Circle	+ on the map; 1 day to 2 weeks	Sharing ends when it expires	A trip or event
Leave the Circle	Settings > Circle Management > Leave Circle	You're no longer in it	Ending it for good (how to leave)

Bubbles come from Life360's Bubbles page: your approximate location is shared and safety and messaging stay on. Note two limits: any Circle member can burst a Bubble if they're worried, which reveals your location and notifies the whole Circle, and an Admin can switch Bubbles off for the Circle under Settings > Circle Management > Set Bubbles Access. Temporary Circles are on Life360's Temporary Circles page.

What about turning off location on the phone?

Some people switch off location for Life360 in the phone's settings, log out or use Airplane Mode instead of pausing. None of these is hidden. Life360 shows the Circle what happened (See a Circle Member's Location):

What you do on the phone	What the Circle sees
Location permission off for Life360	A "Location permissions off" alert
Log out of Life360	A "Logged out of Life360" alert
No connection (Airplane Mode, no signal, phone off)	Your icon greyed out; battery not shown

These also break things you might want, like SOS with location and place alerts. If you want a break, the Location Sharing switch is the clean way: one tap, a clear label, and one tap to come back.

Can a parent or Admin stop you from pausing?

No. Life360's help page says: "It is not possible to prevent someone from turning off location sharing if they do not wish to be located. Life360 is an opt-in service." An Admin can switch off Bubbles for the Circle, but not the pause switch. If pausing causes friction at home, agree on when it's fine (a date night, a weekend away) rather than turning it into a contest.

Troubleshooting

My Circle still sees my location. You paused in one Circle but are in another. Tap the Circle Switcher and check each one.

My Circle sees "Location permissions off" instead of "Paused". You changed the phone's settings, not Life360's switch. Turn location back on for Life360 (below) and use Settings > Location Sharing in the app instead.

I turned sharing back on, but my location isn't updating. Life360 needs location access "Always" and precise location (Life360 Permission Settings):

iPhone (iOS 26 and iOS 27): Settings > Life360 > Location > Always, and turn on Precise Location. Apple's equivalent path is Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services > Life360 (Apple).
Google Pixel (Android 14 to 16): Settings > Location > Life360 > Allow all the time, and turn on Use precise location.
Samsung Galaxy (One UI): Settings > Location > App permissions > Life360 > Allow all the time, and turn on Use precise location.

On Android, Life360 also asks you to set battery optimization for Life360 to Not optimized. On Samsung, check that Life360 isn't in Sleeping apps or Deep sleeping apps under Settings > Battery > Background usage limits (Samsung).

Still stuck? Life360's Reconnect My Device steps: Settings > Log Out, force close the app, power the phone off for at least two minutes, log back in. Also note you can only be signed in on one device at a time; signing in on a new phone signs you out of the old one (Life360 on Multiple Devices).

Warden (top pick): pause is a normal, visible switch

Warden treats pausing as part of sharing, not an exception to it:

In Warden, pick the circle you want a break from and switch your sharing off for it. Each circle has its own switch.
The circle sees you as "Paused", with no location and no battery level.
SOS and messages keep working while you're paused; an SOS reaches the members of your circles with your current or last known position.
Switch sharing back on whenever you like; nobody else can switch it on for you.
Stop sharing with every circle and no new locations are stored at all.

Everyone can always see who can see their location, history is deleted automatically after 30 days, and iPhone (iOS 17 or later) and Android (8.0 or later) share one circle. More on the differences: Life360 alternatives.

FAQ

How do I pause my location on Life360?

Open the Circle, tap Settings in the upper left corner, tap Location Sharing and switch the toggle off. Do it in every Circle you're in, because the pause only applies to the Circle where you switched it off.

Can you pause your location on Life360 without anyone knowing?

No. Life360 shows "Location Sharing Paused" under your name in that Circle. Turning off location permissions or logging out also shows an alert to the Circle, so there is no hidden way to pause.

It means that member switched off Location Sharing for that Circle. Their location stops updating there and their battery level isn't shown, but SOS, Check In and crash detection can still share their location.

How long can you pause Life360?

As long as you like. The pause stays on until you switch Location Sharing back on. A Bubble, by contrast, lasts up to 6 hours.

Does pausing Life360 delete my location history?

No. Life360 says turning off Location Sharing stops future updates but doesn't delete history it has already collected. Only deleting your account removes it.

Can a parent stop me from pausing Life360?

No. Life360 says it is not possible to prevent someone from turning off location sharing, because Life360 is an opt-in service. An Admin can only turn off the Bubbles feature for the Circle.

What is the difference between a Bubble and pausing on Life360?

A Bubble shares an approximate area of up to 25 miles for up to 6 hours, and any Circle member can burst it. Pausing shares no location in that Circle until you turn it back on.

Is there an app where pausing is simpler?

Warden (top pick) has one sharing switch per circle; the circle sees "Paused" with no location or battery, SOS and messages keep working, and it runs on both iPhone and Android.