Stop Apps From Using Your Precise Location

Matthew Leo · September 22, 2026 · Guides

A person reviews phone settings on a park bench beside a bicycle.

Most apps do not need your exact location all the time. A weather app may only need your city. A restaurant app may need your neighbourhood. Turn-by-turn navigation, ride-hailing and emergency features are the cases where precise location is often necessary.

You do not have to switch location off for the whole phone. Both iPhone and modern Android let you decide which apps can see your location, when they can use it and whether the location is precise or approximate.

Start with the apps that have background access

Look first for apps allowed to use location “Always” on iPhone or “All the time” on Android. Background access can be reasonable for navigation, safety, fitness tracking, a lost-device service or an automation you deliberately use.

It is harder to justify for a game, retailer, social app or service you rarely open. Change those apps to “While Using” or “Ask Every Time” unless a specific feature breaks.

Do not remove access blindly. If you rely on live location sharing, crash detection, family safety, a medication reminder tied to place, or a tracking device, check how the feature works first.

Review location access on iPhone

  1. Open Settings.
  2. Tap Privacy & Security.
  3. Tap Location Services.
  4. Select an app.
  5. Choose Never, Ask Next Time Or When I Share, While Using the App or Always, depending on what Apple offers for that app.
  6. Turn Precise Location off if the app only needs your general area.

Apple says turning Precise Location off gives the selected app an approximate location instead. The main Location Services switch at the top affects the entire phone, so use the per-app controls unless you intend to disable location broadly.

A practical default is “While Using the App” for maps, local search and delivery apps. Keep “Always” only when the feature must work after you close the app.

Review location access on Android

Menu names can vary by manufacturer, but on a current Pixel and many other Android phones:

  1. Open Settings.
  2. Tap Location.
  3. Tap App location permissions.
  4. Review the groups labelled Allowed all the time, Allowed only while in use, Ask every time and Not allowed.
  5. Tap an app and choose the access level you want.
  6. If location access stays on, turn Use precise location off when an approximate area is enough.

You can also press and hold an app icon, tap App info, then open Permissions and Location.

On Android 12 and later, precise permission for one app is separate from the phone-wide Location Accuracy setting. You can leave Location Accuracy on so maps and lost-device features work well while giving a particular app only approximate location.

Approximate location is not the same as no location

Approximate access can still reveal the part of a city you are in. Google describes Android's approximate location as an area of roughly three square kilometres, though actual behaviour can vary by device and conditions.

Use approximate access when the app needs local information but not a street-level position. Weather, news, store discovery and some social features often work this way.

Use no access when the app does not need your location at all. An app may still infer a broad area from your IP address or information you enter, but it will not receive the phone's location through the permission you disabled.

Google Timeline is a separate setting

Changing an app's permission does not automatically delete location history already saved elsewhere.

Google says Timeline is off by default and, when enabled, saves visits and routes on each eligible signed-in device. It can also use an encrypted cloud backup. To review it, open the Timeline section of your Google Account.

Turning Timeline off stops new Timeline saving, but it does not necessarily remove existing history. You can delete all or part of that data separately in Google Maps Timeline.

Google also warns that Search Services History or Web & App Activity may retain other location information even when Timeline is off. Those controls need their own review.

Location Accuracy and scanning affect the whole Android phone

Android's Location Accuracy service combines signals such as GPS, Wi-Fi, cellular towers and device sensors. Turning it off can reduce accuracy indoors and make maps or lost-device tools less reliable.

Wi-Fi scanning and Bluetooth scanning are separate system settings on many Android phones. They can help the device estimate location even when you are not connected to a network or accessory.

If your goal is to stop one shopping or social app from knowing your exact position, change that app's permission. Disabling phone-wide accuracy services is a much larger change.

Check photo location separately

Camera apps can store location metadata inside a photo when they have permission. Sharing that original file may pass the location along, depending on the app and sharing method.

Mapletechie's guide to removing a photo's location before sharing it covers that separate problem. Removing the camera's location permission prevents new photos from receiving GPS coordinates, but it does not clean older files.

Test the feature after changing access

Open the app and try the feature you actually use. A weather app should still find your city with approximate access. A navigation app may need precise access to place you on the correct road. A delivery app may let you type an address instead.

If something fails, increase access one step at a time. Do not jump straight from “Never” to “Always.” The least access that keeps the feature working is usually the right setting.

Sources

Tags: location privacy, iPhone, Android, app permissions, Google Timeline

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