The Wearable Tracker
The Apple Watch contains a dedicated, highly accurate GPS chip. By default, watchOS constantly utilizes this chip for a massive array of background tasks: recording the exact path of your morning run, providing turn-by-turn driving directions on your wrist, and sharing your location with friends. While highly convenient, this constant GPS triangulation is the single fastest way to drain the tiny internal battery. Furthermore, if you value absolute privacy and refuse to wear a device that physically tracks your coordinates throughout the day, you must completely terminate the watch’s connection to the satellite network.
How to Turn Off Location Services Globally
You can permanently shut down the GPS hardware via the Privacy settings directly on your wrist.
- Open the Settings app directly on your Apple Watch (the grey gear icon).
- Scroll down the main list and tap on Privacy & Security.
- At the very top of the screen, tap on Location Services.
- Locate the master toggle switch labeled Location Services.
- Toggle this switch to the Off position.
- A warning will appear confirming that this will disable location tracking for all apps. Tap Turn Off.
Geographic Anonymity
The change is instantaneous. The Apple Watch will completely cut power to its internal GPS hardware. It will immediately lose the ability to track your running routes, display local weather based on your position, or show your location on Apple Maps. Your watch will become completely geographically blind, guaranteeing absolute physical privacy and significantly extending your battery life.