How to Turn Off Location Services on Your iPhone or Android

Smartphones leave digital tracks everywhere we go, including a record of our physical locations. The Location Services feature of your phone figures out where you are and then supplies that to your phone's operating system or apps to deliver useful information to you (such as sharing your location with friends and family). In some cases, though, you may want to turn Location Services off.

This article explains how to turn Location Services off completely on either iPhone or Android phones, plus how to control which apps can access it.

How to Turn Off Location Services on iPhone

Disabling Location Services on the iPhone so that no apps can access your location is really simple. Just follow these steps:  

1. Tap Settings. 

2. Tap Privacy.

3. Tap Location Services.

4. Move the Location Services slider to off/white.

How to Control Which Apps Have Access to Location Services on iPhone

You may not ant some apps on your iPhone to have access to your location, but not others. Or you might want an app to have that access when it needs it, but not all the time. The iPhone lets you control apps' access to your Location Services this way:

1. Tap Settings. 

2. Tap Privacy.

3. Tap Location Services.

4. Tap an app whose access to Location Services you want to control.

5. Tap the option you want:

   • Never: Select this if you want the app to never know your location. Picking this may disable some location-dependent features. 
   • While Using the App: Only let the app use your location when you've launched the app and are using it. This is a good way to get the benefits of Location Services without giving up too much privacy.
   • Always: With this, the app can always know where you are even if you're not using the app. 

How to Turn Off Location Services on Android

Turning off Location Services on Android completely blocks the use of those features by the operating system and apps. Here's what to do:

1. Tap Settings. ​​

2. Tap Security & Location.​

3. Tap Location, then move the slider to Off.

   On a Samsung phone, you'll need to launch Settings, then Biometrics and security, then set the Location toggle to off.

How to Control Which Apps Have Access to Location Services on Android

Android lets you control which apps have access to your Location Services. This is helpful because some apps that don't really need your location may try to access it and you may want to stop that. Here's what to do:  

1. Tap Settings.

2. Tap Apps & notifications.

   You may need to tap "See all Apps" to find your specific app.

3. Tap an app whose access to Location Services you want to control.​

4. The Permissions line lists Location if this app uses your location.​​

5. Tap Permissions.

6. On the App permissions screen, move the Location slider to off.​​​

7. A pop-up window may remind you that doing this could interfere with ​some features. Tap Cancel or Deny Anyway.

   On a Samsung device, tap Settings, then Apps, the target app, Permissions. Then turn off the toggle for Location.