How to Turn Off Location Services on iPhone (5 Easy Ways)

 5 Ways to Turn Off Location on iPhone

Whether you enabled location for a specific app or it has been active since you bought your iPhone, you may now want to turn off the location on iPhone for better privacy and battery performance. If you’re asking, “How do I disable location on my iPhone?”—we’ve got you covered. From adjusting settings via prefs:root=privacy&path=location to using the Shortcuts app or Find My iPhone, here are five reliable ways to manage location services. These methods work seamlessly on the latest iPhone 17, giving you more control over your privacy.

#1 Turn Off Location Using Settings App

If you're looking for a traditional way to disable location on an iPhone, then this traditional method seems like a sensible choice. Just follow a few steps, and the location will be turned off.

• To begin with, go to the Settings app on your iPhone device.
• Scroll down until you find “Privacy & Security,” and then tap on the Location Services option.
• The last step is to turn off the toggle next to Location Services — thereby disabling the location.

That's it! Your iPhone can now no longer access your location — which ultimately prevents your phone from being tracked.

#2 Turn Off Location Using Shortcuts Apps

Shortcuts is a free automation app for iPhone, Mac, and iPad that lets you automate most of the tasks within the Apple device. These shortcuts can be used to create home and personal automations that run based on the changes on the device. But there's more to it: you can also turn off your iPhone location using this application. Here's how:

• Go to the Shortcuts app on the iPhone. If you don't have it pre-installed on your device, simply download the free application from the App Store.
• Now, you'll need to create a new shortcut. For this, you can click the “+” (plus) icon.
• There, type “Open URLs” in the search bar typically located at the top of the screen and search for it.
• Now, add text by tapping on the URL text and enter “prefs:root=Privacy&path=LOCATION.”

That's it! The location services will be disabled or turned off using the Shortcuts app.

#3 Turn Off Location for Specific Apps

While the above two methods will turn off iPhone location system-wide, there are chances when you might need to disable location for specific iOS apps. Here's how do you turn off the location on your iPhone:

• Open the “Settings” application on your iPhone and then move to the “Privacy & Security” section. Then, click on “Location Services.”
• Here, you'll find a list of all the installed iPhone apps that might be using location services in one way or another.
• Tap on any application and then choose “Never” to turn off the iPhone location completely for this specific app.

If you want to disable location for multiple apps, repeat the steps mentioned in the above parts.

#4 Turn Off Location for System Services

There are a lot of iOS background processes that might be using your phone's location. Thankfully, it is possible to customize iPhone's System Services’ access to your location. Here's how to turn off the location access for all system services on iPhone.

• Go to the “Settings” application and then head to the “Privacy & Security” section.
• Here, you'll find “System Services,” which lists all the iPhone services.
• Turn off the toggle next to the services you’d like to disable location access for.

#5 Turn Off Location Using Find My iPhone

Find My iPhone is a powerful feature for locating a lost device and protecting your personal data. However, if you’re looking to turn off the location on iPhone, you can easily do it through Find My iPhone settings. The process is quick and works the same on the newest iPhone 17, ensuring you stay in control of your privacy whenever needed.

• The first step is similar to the above options! Go to the “Settings” app and then tap the “Privacy & Security” option.
• Under the “Location Services” section, you'll find the “Share My Location” option.
• Now, find the Find My iPhone option and turn off the Share My Location feature.

Note: Find My iPhone also helps you to modify the location access for the list of friends. For example, if you want to disable location for just one friend, simply tap on the name and then turn off the toggle.