As reported by both 9to5Mac and AppleInsider, some additional evidence of Apple's work on a "Find My Friends" service has been discovered in relation to Apple's MobileMe website.
"Find My Friends" was originally discovered as a reference back in iOS 4.3. At the time we suspected that it represented a location-based friend-finding service like Loopt and Google Latitude. The strings (embedded above) seem to confirm those suspicions:
It includes references to standard social networking functions, like a list of people a user is "following," as well as "pending" and "accepted" follower requests. The code also mentions user statuses, updates, blocking of users and removing followers.
These types of services allow you to find your friends who near you at any given time by leveraging your mobile phone's GPS signal. The constant updates can broadcast your location to your friends to know who is nearby.
Apple's implementation seems very similar, and allows you to "follow" or be followed by others. This would presumably allow you to locate those you follow in real time.
Apple has yet to announce any plans to launch such a service, and given the fact that it first appeared back in iOS 4.3 could mean that Apple ultimately decided to scrap the project. Apple's patent applications have previously revealed that Apple is actively researching these type of location based mobile services.
Thursday August 28, 2025 4:08 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
An iPhone 17 announcement is a dead cert for September 2025 – Apple has already sent out invites for an "Awe dropping" event on Tuesday, September 9 at the Apple Park campus in Cupertino, California. The timing follows Apple's trend of introducing new iPhone models annually in the fall.
At the event, Apple is expected to unveil its new-generation iPhone 17, an all-new ultra-thin iPhone 17...
Friday August 29, 2025 4:54 am PDT by Tim Hardwick
Apple and Samsung have reportedly issued cease-and-desist notices to Xiaomi in India for an ad campaign that directly compares the rivals' devices to Xiaomi's products. The two companies have threatened the Chinese vendor with legal action, calling the ads "disparaging."
Ads have appeared in local print media and on social media that take pot shots at the competitors' premium offerings. One...
Apple is expected to unveil the iPhone 17 series on Tuesday, September 9, and last-minute rumors about the devices continue to surface.
The latest info comes from a leaker known as Majin Bu, who has shared alleged images of Apple's Clear Case for the iPhone 17 Pro and Pro Max, or at least replicas.
Image Credit: @MajinBuOfficial
The images show three alleged changes compared to Apple's iP...
Following the announcement of Apple's upcoming "Awe dropping" event, on this week's episode of The MacRumors Show we talk through all of the new accessories rumored to debut alongside the iPhone 17 lineup.
Subscribe to The MacRumors Show YouTube channel for more videos
We take a closer look at Apple's invite for "Awe dropping;" the design could hint at the iPhone 17's new thermal system with ...
For your enjoyment, I now present 500 people complaining based on the absurd assumption that this will not be optional :)
And another 100 conspiracy theorists saying that dark powers could use this feature if Apple releases it... even though it would make much more sense for them to use hidden software for that, not a user-facing feature! (P.S. Does your wristwatch have a GPS? Are you sure it doesn’t? If I were a James Bond villain, I'd rather track people using a device nobody pays attention to—not an iPhone that hackers around the world have their microscopes and packet-sniffers aimed at.)
Oh well, I’ll still be happy to have this occasionally when meeting friends at a large event.
Biggest design overhaul since iOS 7 with Liquid Glass, plus new Apple Intelligence features and improvements to Messages, Phone, Safari, Shortcuts, and more. Developer beta available now ahead of public beta in July.
