Taking Control of Your Privacy
Modern smartphones are incredibly good at tracking exactly where you are at any given moment. This GPS data is what allows Google Maps to give you turn-by-turn directions, Uber to find your pickup spot, and the Weather app to tell you if it is raining in your exact neighbourhood.
However, this convenience comes at a significant cost to your personal privacy. Dozens of third-party apps—from fast-food delivery services to mobile games and social media platforms—constantly request access to your location data. Many of these apps have no legitimate reason to know where you live or work, and some sell this highly valuable location data to advertisers.
Whether you want to stop a specific creepy app from tracking you, or you want to shut down GPS tracking across your entire phone to save battery life, Apple gives you complete control over your Location Services.
Method 1: How to Turn Off Location Services Completely
If you want to “go dark” and prevent every single app (including Apple’s own apps) from seeing your GPS coordinates, you can disable the master switch.
- Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
- Scroll down and tap on Privacy & Security (it has a blue icon with a white hand).
- Tap on Location Services at the very top of the screen.
- You will see a green toggle switch next to “Location Services.” Tap the switch to turn it Off (it will turn grey).
- A warning message will pop up informing you that your location will be disabled for all apps, but your personalized Location-Sharing settings will be temporarily restored if you use Find My iPhone to activate Lost Mode.
- Tap Turn Off to confirm.
Warning: Doing this will immediately break navigation apps like Apple Maps and Google Maps. You will not be able to use your phone for driving directions until you turn the master switch back on.
Method 2: How to Stop Specific Apps from Tracking You
For most users, turning off the master switch is too extreme. A much better approach is to perform a privacy audit and revoke location access from specific apps that do not need it.
- Go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services.
- Ensure the master Location Services switch is turned On.
- Scroll down to view the alphabetical list of every app installed on your phone. Underneath each app’s name, you will see its current permission level (e.g., Always, While Using, or Never).
- Tap on an app you want to restrict (for example, Facebook or a mobile game).
- Change the permission to Never.
Understanding the “Precise Location” Switch
When you click on an app in the list above, you will notice an additional toggle switch called Precise Location. This is a brilliant privacy feature introduced in iOS 14.
If you turn Precise Location Off, the app can only see your approximate location (a radius of several miles). For example, a local weather app needs to know you are in London, but it does not need to know you are standing inside a specific coffee shop in Soho. Turning off Precise Location protects your exact coordinates while allowing the app to remain functional.
What is the “System Services” Menu?
If you scroll to the absolute bottom of the Location Services list, you will find a menu called System Services. These are background tasks run by iOS itself, rather than third-party apps.
Inside, you will find tracking features like “Significant Locations” (where your iPhone remembers the places you visit most often) and “Location-Based Apple Ads.” While Apple insists this data is encrypted and secure, many privacy-conscious users prefer to open this menu and toggle off anything they do not strictly need.
