How to Turn Off Location on iPhone (Apps, Sharing, Photos)

To turn off location on iPhone, go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services and switch Location Services off. To keep it on but limit it, open the same screen, tap an app and choose Never. Sharing with friends and the location saved in your photos are separate settings, covered below.

“Turn off location” can mean five different things, and each one lives in a different place. This guide goes through them in order, with the Apple Support page behind each step.

1. Turn off Location Services for the whole iPhone

Apple’s instructions start in the same place for every location setting: open Settings, tap Privacy & Security, then tap Location Services. The switch at the top of that screen turns location on or off for the whole device.

Turning it off affects more than you might expect. Apple notes that some apps might not work unless Location Services is on, and that covers things like maps, weather and delivery apps. If your goal is to stop one app from tracking you, use the next section instead of switching everything off.

To turn Location Services back on, return to the same screen and flip the same switch.

2. Turn off location for one app

On the same Location Services screen, scroll to the app and tap it. Apple lists these choices:

• Never blocks the app from getting your location.
• Ask Next Time Or When I Share makes the app ask again. You can then choose Allow While Using App, Allow Once or Don’t Allow.
• While Using the App allows location only when the app or one of its features is on screen.
• Always allows location even when the app is in the background.

For most apps, While Using the App or Never is enough. Pick Always only for an app that needs to work when you are not looking at it. Apple’s Location Services page in the Personal Safety guide covers the same screen if you want the longer version.

3. Turn off Precise Location

Some apps only need to know your city, not your street. Apple explains that you can go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services, select the app and turn Precise Location off. The app then gets only your approximate location.

This works well for weather, news and shopping apps. It is a poor fit for navigation, because turn-by-turn directions need your exact position.

4. Check System Services and Significant Locations

Below the app list on the Location Services screen is System Services. Apple’s Personal Safety guide says that on iPhone you go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services > System Services. There you can turn off Significant Locations & Routes, which lets your iPhone learn places that matter to you for Maps, Calendar, Reminders and other apps. Apple says significant locations are encrypted and can’t be read by Apple.

On the same screen you can also go to Location Alerts and turn off Show Map in Location Alerts. You still get the alerts, only without the map.

5. Stop sharing your location with people

Sharing your location with a friend or family member is its own setting and is not controlled by the app switches above. Per Apple’s Find My guide:

To stop sharing with one person

1. Open Find My and tap People.
2. Tap the person’s name.
3. Tap Stop Sharing My Location, then tap Stop Sharing Location to confirm.

To stop sharing with everyone

1. In Find My, tap Me.
2. Turn off Share My Location.

If you only want a break, tap the person’s name, tap the more button and tap Hide Location. Apple says sharing resumes automatically the next day. Apple also warns that people you shared with may notice you stopped.

6. Stop photos from carrying your location

Turning off location for apps does not erase the places already saved inside photos you took. Every photo and video can store location metadata, and that metadata travels with the file when you send it. Apple’s page Manage location metadata in Photos covers each step below.

Stop the Camera from saving location

Apple says location metadata in photos and videos can be collected only if the Camera app has access to Location Services. Go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services > Camera and choose Never. New photos then carry no location.

See where a photo says it was taken

Open the photo and swipe up, or tap the Info button. To browse photos by place, tap Collections and open the Map collection under Pinned.

Remove location when you share a photo

1. Open Photos, select the photos and tap the Share Sheet button.
2. Tap Options and turn off Location. The label Location Not Included appears above the Options button.
3. Share the photo with any method in the Share Sheet.

This removes location from the copy you send. The original in your library keeps its location.

Remove location from a photo you already have

Open the photo, tap the more button, then tap Adjust Info > Adjust Location > No Location.

Check the Share Sheet option each time you share. If you rely on it for photos you send to strangers, such as a marketplace listing or a landlord, look at the preview line before you send.

Which setting solves which problem

You want	Change this
No app on the phone to see your location	Location Services switch, off
One app to stop tracking you	Location Services > the app > Never
An app to know your area but not your street	Precise Location, off
Maps and Calendar to stop learning your places	System Services > Significant Locations & Routes, off
A friend to stop seeing where you are	Find My > People > Stop Sharing My Location
New photos with no place saved	Location Services > Camera > Never
One photo sent without its location	Share Sheet > Options > Location, off

Keeping location out of photos you keep private

The settings above clean up photos you share. If you keep private photos on your iPhone as well, the same location data sits in each original. Hiding them does not remove it. The guide on how to hide photos on iPhone explains what the Hidden album and other built-in options protect, and setting up a private photo album walks through the steps.

Forevault is our app for photos you want kept apart from your library. It encrypts files on the device with AES-256-GCM and opens with a pattern on a 5×5 grid or a passcode or password, with Face ID as an option. You can keep separate vaults for different patterns, and the lock screen does not list them. The setting Remove location & camera info when sharing is on by default, so a photo you send from the vault goes out without its location or camera details. You get a 12-word recovery phrase, an encrypted backup to your own iCloud with a “Test a restore” option, and free export to Photos or Files at any time. There is no account and no data collected. The free tier holds 100 photos, 10 videos and 3 vaults. There is no calculator disguise, and it protects against someone holding your phone, not forensic analysis. Questions go to the support page. Download Forevault on the App Store.

Frequently asked questions

How do I turn off location on iPhone completely?

Go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services and switch Location Services off at the top. Apps that depend on location, such as maps, may stop working until you turn it back on.

How do I turn location off for just one app?

Open Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services, scroll to the app and tap it. Choose Never to block it, or While Using the App to allow location only while the app is on screen.

Does turning off Location Services stop Find My sharing?

Find My sharing with people has its own controls. In Find My, tap People, tap a name and tap Stop Sharing My Location, or tap Me and turn off Share My Location to stop sharing with everyone.

How do I turn on location services again?

Return to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services and turn the switch at the top on. Then check each app’s setting, because an app set to Never stays blocked until you change it.

Do my photos still show where they were taken?

They can. Photos store location metadata when the Camera app has access to Location Services. Set Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services > Camera to Never for new photos, and use Options > Location in the Share Sheet to send a photo without its location.

What is Precise Location?

It is a per-app switch under Location Services. With it off, the app gets only your approximate location, which is enough for weather or news and not enough for turn-by-turn navigation.