Check In: Everyone should know this essential iPhone safety feature

Check In is an iPhone feature that tracks your travels and lets contacts know when you’ve safely reached your destination or finished a workout. It’s great for traveling, kids going to and from school, going on a date or biking on a dangerous road. You no longer need to count on remembering to text someone when you make it home safely — your iPhone will let them know for you.

Check In is like sharing your ETA in Apple Maps, but tweaked for personal safety. Friends, family and loved ones will be automatically notified if you’re stopped for any reason before reaching your destination. The safety feature also offers timer-based check-ins, which come in handy for situations like meeting a stranger from Craigslist. If you don’t check in after a set time, your iPhone will alert your contacts.

Here’s how to use it — frankly, every parent should know how this works.

How to use iPhone Check In feature

Similar to sharing your ETA in Apple Maps, Check In will notify chosen recipients if you get lost, kidnapped or simply have a car breakdown. If you deviate or stop making progress on a trip, you have 15 minutes to respond to a notification to confirm you’re all right. If you don’t respond, your iPhone will notify recipients of your current location, the route you went on, and, in case they want to contact you, your iPhone’s battery level and cell connectivity.

Check In can be critical for keeping peace of mind during your travels. With people often traveling during the holidays — as the weather rapidly gets worse — you can stay in the know while your loved ones make their migrations to and from family. 

Table of contents: How to use iPhone Check In feature

1. Start Check In from Messages app on iPhone
2. Check in by location, time or workout
3. Send the message to start your Check In
4. Choose what details to share
5. More Messages features

Start Check In from Messages app on iPhone

In Messages, start a new message with the person you want to check in with. Then tap the + menu to the left of the text field to open the app list.

Swipe down and tap Check In. If you have directions running in Apple Maps or a workout going, it’ll automatically create a Destination- or Workout-based check-in.

Otherwise, it’ll set a one-hour timer by default. Tap Edit to make changes — maybe you still want a Destination-based workout, but you prefer using Google Maps. 

Check in by location, time or workout

There are three ways to check-in, which you can pick at the top of the screen:

• A Destination-based check-in is ideal if you’re driving, walking, taking a bus or traveling, as it uses your location to track your progress. It sends an alert if you get stopped along the way, and lets them know when you safely arrive. Set your destination using the map.
• A Timer-based check-in is handy if you’re doing something potentially risky, like meeting a stranger to sell something on Facebook Marketplace or going to a seedy bar. It sends an alert if the time expires and you haven’t marked yourself as safe. You can customize the length of time.
• Use the Workout check-in if you’re going for a bike ride on a busy road, taking a walk through the city at night, climbing a rock face, white-water rafting or some other risky activity. It sends an alert if your workout is interrupted and you don’t respond, and lets them know if your workout ends safely. You have to start a workout before you can send the check-in. 

Tap Done (the blue checkmark button) to save your changes.

Send the message to start your Check In

Before you send the message, you’ll see a preview in the message composition window. You can tap Edit to make more changes. You can write a message below, then tap Send to start sharing.

Choose what details to share

If you don’t respond on time to an iPhone Check In notification, the recipient will be notified that you failed to check in. You can choose whether to send them your current location only (Limited) or the entire path you took (Full). Limited will preserve your privacy better, but if you enter a potentially dangerous situation, it may be easier to find you if you share the Full data.

You can adjust this setting while setting up a check-in by tapping Messages Settings, or at any time from Settings > Apps > Messages > Check In Data. Choose either Limited or Full, and look below to see example data. 

More Messages features

• Edit or unsend messages, soon after sending them, if you make a mistake.
• Schedule texts to send later on iPhone to make sure you never forget to send a reminder, birthday greeting or early morning message for someone in a different time zone. You can schedule a whole slew of texts up to a week in advance, with links, photos, attachments and more.
• iMessage effects can add much more meaning, emotion and fun to your texting. You can add bold, italics, underline and strikethrough text, just like a formatted document, and even choose from a bunch of cool, animated effects.
• Scheduled automatic Apple Cash payments to send money to your friends or family on a regular basis.
• Send messages via satellite if you have an iPhone 14 or newer and you’re out of cell service.

We originally published this article on Check In on iPhone on October 24, 2023. We updated it with the latest information on July 8, 2024 and December 3, 2025.

D. Griffin Jones

D. Griffin Jones is a writer, podcaster and video producer for Cult of Mac. Griffin has been a passionate computer enthusiast since 2002, when he got his first PC — but since getting a Mac in 2008, he hasn’t turned back. His skills in graphic and web design, along with video and podcast editing, are self-taught over 20+ years. Griffin has a bachelor’s degree in computer science and has written several (unpublished) apps for Mac and iOS. His collection of old computers is made up of 40+ desktops, laptops, PDAs and devices, dating back to the early ’80s. He brings all of these creative and technical skills, along with a deep knowledge of Apple history, into his work for Cult of Mac.