How to Disable or Enable iPad Location Services

Some apps require that you turn on location services

Turning off location services
by Daniel Nations
Daniel Nations has been a tech journalist since 1994. His work has appeared in Computer Currents, The Examiner, The Spruce, and other publications.
Updated September 17, 2018

Much like a smartphone, the iPad's location services are fairly accurate at pinpointing your location. If you have an iPad that can connect to 4G LTE, it also includes an Assisted-GPS chip to help determine the location but, even without GPS, it works almost just as well with Wi-Fi triangulation.

Some apps that require your location include GPS maps and anything that finds things nearby, like points of interest or other users.

However, while location services can come in handy in many situations, you might want to disable it if you're concerned that apps know your location. Another reason to disable location services on the iPad is to save some battery power.

How to Turn Off Location Services

Location services are probably already turned on for your iPad so here's how to shut off location tracking for all your apps at once:

  2. Scroll down and open the Privacy menu item.

  3. Tap Location Services at the top of the screen.

  4. Next to Location Services is a green switch that you can tap to disable location services.

  5. When asked if you're sure, tap Turn Off.

You should also be able to swipe up from the bottom of the screen and choose the airplane icon to put your iPad into Airplane Mode. Keep in mind, however, that while this method will shut down location services for all your apps in just a moment or two, it also stops your phone from taking or making calls and connecting to networks like ​Wi-Fi.

Note: Turning on location services is of course just the opposite of turning it off, so return to Step 4 to enable it again.

How to Manage Location Services for Just One App

While it is easier to disable location services for all the apps at once, you do have the option to toggle the setting off for single apps so that they cannot identify your location.

Every app that uses location services asks your permission first but even if you allowed it before, you can still disallow it again. Once it's disabled, toggling it back on is just as simple.

  1. Return to Step 3 in the section above so that you can see the Location Services screen.

  2. Scroll down through the list of applications and tap whichever one you want to disable (or enable) location services for.

  3. Select Never to stop it completely or While Using the App to make sure that your location isn't being used in the background when you're not even in the app. Some apps have an Always option so that your location can be discovered even when the app is closed down.

What Is Share My Location?

Your iPad can also share your current location in text messages. If you really want to let someone know where you are all the time, you can add them in Find My Friends. They'll show up in the Share My Location section of the Location Services screen.

To completely stop sharing your location with others, turn to this screen and tap the green toggle next to Share My Location.