Top 7 iPhone Location Settings (And How to Turn it Off)

If you do not want your iPhone to be tracked, you need to know which location settings in your iPhone that needs to be turned off. Some settings completely blocked any location data from transmitting from your iPhone and there are some settings that only partially limit the location tracking of your iPhone. Here we are going to show you the top 7 location settings that are in your iPhone and the steps on how to turn it off.

If you are interested to know how, here are the steps.

#1 TURN OFF LOCATION SERVICES

Location Services is the GPS services provided on your iPhone. This allows all the features that require a GPS location to be active if you have enabled the location services in the settings. You can disable the location services if you do not want your iPhone to be tracked via the GPS.

Here are the steps.

Step 1

In your iPhone, go to Settings

Step 2

In your Settings, go to “Privacy”

Step 3

In “Privacy” settings, go to “Location Services”

Step 4

Push the green button at Location Services to the left to disable it

Step 5

A pop-up menu will be shown. Tap “Turn Off” to confirm

The button of your Location Services will no longer be green. This means your Locations Services has been turned off

#2 USE AIRPLANE MODE

Airplane mode is a quick feature where it will allow your iPhone to disconnect not just your location services, but as well as your internet connection. This will limit the ability of your iPhone to be tracked.

Here are the steps.

Step 1

In your iPhone, go to your Settings and go to “Airplane Mode”

Step 2

At the “Airplane Mode”. Tap the button to the left to make it green

Your iPhone will now be in Airplane Mode and therefore disabling any location tracking

#3 TURN OFF “FIND MY IPHONE”

The “Find My iPhone” feature is one of the most important features to be used if you have lost your iPhone. However, if you do not want your iPhone to be tracked even If you have lost it, here are the steps on how you can disable this function.

Step 1

At the Location Services, tap at “Share My Location”

Step 2

At “Find My” menu, tap at “Find My iPhone”

Step 3

At “Find My iPhone”, push the green button to the left to disable the function

Step 4

A pop-up menu will be shown requesting your Apple ID password

Fill in your Apple ID password to proceed to disable the “Find My iPhone”

#4 DISABLE IPHONE OFFLINE FINDING

Even if your iPhone is not connected to the internet, your iPhone can still be tracked via the Bluetooth connection.

Here are the steps on how you can disable this Bluetooth location tracking feature.

Step 1

At “Find My iPhone” menu settings, go to “Enable Offline Finding” and push the button to the left to disable it

Step 2

A pop-up menu will be shown. Tap “Disable” to proceed

#5 DISABLE IPHONE FROM SENDING LAST LOCATION

Your iPhone can no longer be tracked once it is turned off or not connected to the internet. However, it can still show the last time it was discoverable via the internet.

Here are the steps on how to limit your iPhone from sending its last location. 

Step 1

At “Find My iPhone” settings, go to “Send Last Location”

Step 2

Disable the “Send Last Location” by pushing the button to the left

#6 DISABLE LOCATION ALERTS

Your iPhone can also send location alerts where it will show your iPhone location in a map.

Here is how to disable this.

Step 1

Go to “Location Services” settings, tap at “Location Alerts”

Step 2

At “Show Map in Location Alerts”, push the button to the left to disable it

#7 DISABLE APPS FROM SHARING LOCATION

If you do not want to block your iPhone from location sharing, you can also just select which specific apps in your iPhone that be blocked from sharing your iPhone’s location.

Here are the steps.

Step 1

At the “Privacy” settings, go to “Location Services”

Step 2

At Location Services, scroll down to see the list of apps that uses Location Services.

Tap at Apps that are listed as “Always”

Step 3

Change the settings from “Always” to “While Using the App” or to “Never”

This will disable the apps from sending your iPhone location to a third-party services

So, there you have it – Top seven iPhone location settings and how you can disable or turn it off. Please leave us a comment below on what are the most common location settings that you would normally use.

Please also read our previous article on how to find iPhone when it is offline.

How to Track iPhone if Location is Turned Off (Simple Steps)

One of the interesting capabilities of smartphones nowadays is the ability to use location services and keep track of your phone’s location and also your families and friends. This location service is used with various features and apps.

Some of the useful function of location services are:-

  1. Real-time map services – Apps such as Waze and Google Maps utilizes the location services data heavily to reflect your current location
  2. Social media app – Some of the popular social media app such as Facebook and Instagram uses your location services data to reflect your current location in your social media status
  3. Gaming – Some game apps relies on your location data for the features contained in the gaming experience

However, there are many reasons why sometimes a user would want to disable the location services. These are several reasons:-

  1. To keep the privacy of your location and yourself
  2. To ensure the app you have installed does not transmit unnecessary location data to the third party
  3. To ensure no third party is tracking your movement and location

If you want to disable the location services in your iPhone, here are the steps on to turn it off

How to disable iPhone Location Services

Step 1

In your iPhone, go to “Settings” and go to “Privacy”

Step 2

Disable the “Location Services” by turning it off here

However, even when the location services are turned off, you can track your iPhone in case it gets lost.

So, if you are interested in how to track your phone even when the location services are turned off, here are the simple steps.

How to Track iPhone if Location is Turned Off 1

Step 1

Go to https://www.icloud.com/find

Login in to your Apple ID account

Step 2

Choose the Apple device that has the location turned off

How to Track iPhone if Location is Turned Off 2

Step 3

Enable the “Lost Mode”

Step 4

A pop-up menu will be shown.

Tap “Ok” to enable the Lost Mode.

The Lost Mode will remotely enable your iPhone’s Location Services even though it was disabled previously

How to Track iPhone if Location is Turned Off 3

Step 5

You can immediately see your iPhone’s location on a map.

Your lost iPhone will also be locked when it is in the “Lost Mode”.

So, there you have it – Simple ways how you can track your lost iPhone even though you have previously disabled your location services feature.

This feature helps people to find their lost iPhone even though they have disabled their location services previously.

Please feel free to leave us a comment below and also don’t forget to read our previous article on top 3 ways how to find a lost iPhone.

Your iPhone is Keeping Track of Your Location (How to Turn it Off)

The iPhone is not just a smartphone. It is a very powerful small computer that can help you in many ways. The GPS chip embedded in your iPhone serves as to utilise the location data for the functional aspect of the iPhone system as well as a third-party app. Due to that ability, the iPhone can utilize the location data in your iPhone to serve you better and also to improve their services.

However, this is where the boundary of privacy versus functionality exists. Should you sacrifice your privacy for the sake of better functionality of your iPhone? Fortunately, iPhone allows you to control the privacy settings and therefore limit the location sharing according to your preference.

WHY IPHONE IS TRACKING YOU?

The iPhone system services that might be actively tracking your location are as follows:-

Apple Pay Merchant Identification – This is for Apple to know your current location and therefore any purchases made using your Apple ID account outside your location would trigger a notification

Compass Calibration – This is used for the Compass app on your iPhone. 

Emergency Calls & SOS – This function is important as your iPhone needs to know your location so that the SOS sent will be more effective

Find My iPhone – This will help you to track your iPhone if it goes missing or stolen

Location-Based Alerts, Ads or Suggestions – This location will help Apple or third-party to serve better ads based on your location

ADVANTAGES & DISADVANTAGES OF TURNING THE LOCATION TRACKING OFF IN IPHONE

There are some advantages and disadvantages when it comes to location tracking. One clear advantage of turning off the location tracking is that you can rest assured that no third party are actively tracking your location. This will protect your privacy and keep the peace in mind.

However, if you turn off the location tracking, some of the useful system services in your iPhone will become not effective. This will limit the full ability of your iPhone in giving the best experience to you as an iPhone user.

So, if you are conscious about the privacy of your location, here we show you how to turn it off.

Here are the steps.

iPhone is tracking your location step 1 step 2

Step 1

In your iPhone, go to “Settings”

Step 2

In the Settings, go to “Privacy”

iPhone is tracking location step 3 step 4

Step 3

In Privacy Settings, go to “Location Services”

Step 4

In Location Services, go to “System Services”

iPhone is tracking location step 5

Step 5

Here it will show you which system services in your iPhone that is actively tracking your location

You can also choose to limit the location sharing to Apple

So, there you have it – Simple steps on how you can check how iPhone is tracking your location and how to turn it off. Please leave us a comment below on what are the location-sharing apps or services that you always use in your iPhone.

Please also read our previous article on how to know who is tracking your iPhone.