During the initial setup process of an iOS device, you’re asked whether to allow apps to have access to your location services. Apps & social networking sites need access to your location data to show you data. While granting location access to trusted apps is not a problem, sometimes we accidentally allow location permission to apps we don’t trust.
We usually turn on the location services and never look back. But, we would like to alert you that if you are connected with Apple’s ecosystem, it’s best to take control of your location data and only give that info to Apple and its app developers.
In this way, you can eliminate many privacy & security issues. So, if you are an iPhone user and often share location with multiple apps, it’s time to review which apps have access to your location data & revoke access if necessary.
How to Turn Off Location Services on iPhone
It’s also pretty easy to review which apps can access the location data on iPhone. You can choose to turn off location-sharing for specific apps or turn off the location-sharing feature completely. Below, we have shared a detailed guide on how to turn off location services on an iPhone. Let’s get started.
1. How to Turn Off Location Sharing Through iPhone Settings
In this section, we will know how to turn off location sharing through the Settings app. Here are some of the simple steps you need to follow.
1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
2. When the Settings app opens, scroll down & tap on Privacy & Security.
3. On the Privacy & Security, tap on the Location Services.
4. On the very top of the next screen, toggle off the Location Services.
5. Next, on the confirmation prompt, tap on the Turn off.
That’s it! This will disable the location services for all apps installed on your iPhone.
2. How to Turn Off Location Sharing for Specific Apps on iPhone
If you don’t want to turn off location sharing altogether, you can choose to turn off location sharing for selected apps on your iPhone. Here’s what you need to do.
1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
2. When the Settings app opens, scroll down & tap on Privacy & Security.
3. On the Privacy & Security, tap on the Location Services.
4. On the Location Services screen, scroll down a bit to see all apps that have requested access to your location.
5. You can tap the App name and select Never on the next screen. Selecting Never ensures that the selected application can never track location services.
3. How to Turn Off Location for System Services
iOS also has certain backend location-tracking features that you may want to stop. Here’s how you can turn off location for system services.
1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
2. When the Settings app opens, scroll down & tap on Privacy & Security.
3. On the Privacy & Security, tap on the Location Services.
4. Next, scroll down to the bottom of the screen and tap System Services.
5. You will find several System Services on the next screen. These system services have access to your location data. Disable the toggle beside the services to stop sharing the location services.
6. On the confirmation prompt that appears while disabling, tap on Turn Off.
That’s it! This is how you can turn off location for system services on iPhone.
4. Disable Location Sharing (Find My iPhone)
The Find My App, which helps you locate your lost or missing iPhone, also tracks the location of your iPhone in the background. While the app needs location data for genuine reasons, if you have privacy concerns, you can also turn off location access for the Find My iPhone app. Here’s how you can disable location sharing in the Find My app for iPhone.
1. Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
2. When the Settings app opens, scroll down & tap on Privacy & Security.
3. On the Privacy & Security, tap on the Location Services.
4. On the Location Services screen, tap on Share My Location.
5. Next, on the next screen, tap on the Find My iPhone.
6. On the Find My iPhone screen, turn off the toggle for Find My iPhone.
That’s it! This will immediately disable location sharing on your iPhone.
So, this is a detailed guide on how to turn off location services on iPhone. If you have privacy concerns, it’s recommended that you follow the steps we have shared to disable the location sharing. Let us know if you need more help disabling location services on iOS.