Your iPhone constantly uses its GPS, Bluetooth, and cellular data to pinpoint your exact physical location. While this is essential for getting directions in Apple Maps or checking the local weather, many third-party apps request your location just to sell that data to advertisers. If you want to protect your privacy or save some battery life, you can take control of your location settings.
How to Turn Off Location Services Entirely
If you want to go completely off the grid and prevent your iPhone from tracking your location for any reason:
- Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
- Scroll down and tap on Privacy & Security (or just Privacy on older versions of iOS).
- Tap on Location Services at the very top.
- Toggle the green switch next to Location Services to the Off (grey) position.
- A warning will pop up reminding you that this will disable location features across the entire phone. Tap Turn Off to confirm.
How to Turn Off Location Services for Specific Apps (Recommended)
Turning off Location Services completely means you cannot use GPS navigation, Uber, or Find My iPhone. Instead of taking the nuclear option, it is much better to restrict location access on an app-by-app basis.
- Go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services and make sure the master switch is turned On.
- Scroll down to see a complete list of every app installed on your phone.
- Tap on any app that doesn’t genuinely need to know where you are (like a mobile game or a flashlight app).
- Change its access setting to Never.
For apps that do need your location, you can choose While Using the App. This prevents them from secretly tracking you in the background while your phone is locked in your pocket.