We're excited to share a significant breakthrough that makes FindTribe even more effective at keeping friends and family connected during events. After a rigorous five-month review process, FindTribe has received special permission from Apple to use location services in ways typically restricted by iOS—allowing friends to locate each other even when someone is distracted or in areas with limited connectivity, all while preserving battery life.
The Challenge: Finding Friends When It Matters Most
Anyone who has attended a large festival or concert knows the scenario: you're trying to meet up with friends, but the person you're looking for isn't checking their phone. Maybe they're dancing, engaged in conversation, or simply can't hear their phone over the music. Traditional location sharing apps require active engagement—opening the app to update your location or check where others are—which isn't always practical in these environments.
This challenge became the focus of our development team after analyzing user feedback. The most common pain point? "My friend can see where I am, but they're not looking at their phone, so they don't know I'm trying to find them."
"The best technology disappears when you need it most—working seamlessly in the background so you can stay present in the moment."
We needed a solution that would allow FindTribe to maintain reliable location data when friends were actively looking for each other, even if they weren't currently using the app. However, we immediately ran into Apple's strict limitations around background location usage—restrictions designed with good reason to protect user privacy and battery life.
Apple's Location Restrictions: Privacy By Design
Apple's iOS is deliberately designed with strict limitations on how apps can access and use location data, especially when running in the background. These restrictions exist for good reasons:
Privacy Protection
Preventing apps from silently tracking users' movements without clear consent and awareness
Battery Preservation
Continuous GPS usage is one of the biggest battery drains on mobile devices
System Resources
Limiting background processes to maintain overall device performance
Typically, iOS apps face several limitations when it comes to location services:
- Background location updates are throttled and eventually suspended
- Push notifications cannot be triggered based on location changes
- Apps cannot wake themselves up to process location data
- Location access requires explicit user opt-in with clear purpose messaging
- Each app can only monitor up to 20 geofence regions simultaneously
These restrictions make perfect sense for most apps, but for FindTribe's specific use case—helping people find each other in crowded, often chaotic environments—they presented a significant challenge to delivering the seamless experience our users needed.
Our Approach: The App Review Process
Rather than trying to work around these limitations, we decided to work within Apple's framework by submitting a detailed application for special location permissions. This began a five-month review process where Apple's app review team thoroughly examined our implementation.
Our approach centered on three key principles:
Clear User Value
Demonstrating how these permissions would directly benefit users in specific, high-value scenarios like finding friends at events
Privacy-First Design
Building comprehensive privacy protections that went beyond Apple's baseline requirements
Efficiency Innovation
Developing approaches to minimize battery and system resource usage
During the review process, Apple's team studied our code implementation, privacy policies, and data handling practices in great detail. They required us to demonstrate that our app was handling users' location data responsibly and securely. This wasn't a collaborative process—it was a thorough technical evaluation to ensure our implementation met Apple's high standards for user privacy and system efficiency.
The Technical Details: How Our Implementation Works
After five months of review, Apple granted FindTribe permission to use a special entitlement for background location services. Here's what this means from a technical perspective:
Background Location Updates
Our app can maintain more consistent location updates during events, with intelligent throttling based on movement patterns and app usage
Silent Push Notifications
We can use Apple's push notification system to update location data without displaying visible notifications to users
Background Processing
The app can briefly wake up to process critical location data when friends are actively searching for each other
These permissions come with strict requirements that we're fully committed to upholding:
- Crystal-clear opt-in processes with explicit user consent
- Detailed privacy disclosures about how and when location data is used
- Easy-to-access controls for temporarily or permanently disabling these features
- Strict data minimization and retention policies
This represents one of the relatively rare cases where Apple has granted special location permissions to a third-party app, reflecting their recognition of FindTribe's legitimate use case and our commitment to responsible implementation.
How It Works: Geofencing and Location Sharing
With these permissions in place, FindTribe can now offer a more seamless friend-finding experience that works even when you're fully immersed in the event:
Active Search Updates
When a friend is actively looking for you on the map, your location updates more frequently to ensure accuracy
Geofence-Based Alerts
When you set a meetup location, friends can receive notifications when others arrive at that spot (if they opt in)
Intelligent Power Management
Location updates adapt based on whether you're moving or stationary to minimize battery impact
Our implementation uses several techniques to minimize battery impact:
- Movement-based updates: Location update frequency adapts based on whether you're moving or stationary
- Geofencing optimization: We use efficient circular geofencing for meetup points and important locations
- Adaptive accuracy: The accuracy level adjusts based on the current use case—high precision when friends are actively searching, lower precision during normal operation
In our testing, these features increased battery usage by only 5-8% during a full day at an event compared to not running FindTribe at all—a remarkable achievement given the functionality provided.
Privacy By Design: Your Location, Your Control
While we're excited about these new capabilities, we recognize the responsibility that comes with them. FindTribe's enhanced location features are built with privacy as a foundational principle:
Granular Permissions
Control exactly who can see your location and receive notifications about your movements
Event-Based Sharing
Location sharing is tied to specific events and automatically ends when events conclude
Incognito Mode
Instantly pause all location sharing with a single tap while still seeing your friends' locations
We've also implemented strict data minimization practices. Location data is only stored for the duration necessary to provide the service, is fully encrypted end-to-end, and never sold or shared with third parties for any reason.
Available Now: Experience the Difference
These enhanced location features are rolling out to all FindTribe users today as part of our latest update. When you first open the updated app, you'll be guided through a clear explanation of the new features and asked to provide explicit consent before they're enabled.
We believe these improvements represent a significant step forward in solving one of the most persistent challenges of event attendance—staying connected with friends when it matters most. By working within Apple's ecosystem rather than trying to circumvent it, we've created a solution that respects both user privacy and battery life while delivering a truly seamless experience.
We're grateful to Apple for their thorough review process that helped us refine our implementation, and to our users whose feedback helped us identify and solve this critical need. We can't wait to hear how these new features enhance your event experiences!
Download or update FindTribe today to experience these new capabilities at your next event.