Where is Location Services on iPhone? How to turn it on or off

What each app option means

Under the main switch you see every app that has asked for your location. Tap one to choose:

• Never: the app cannot see your location.
• Ask Next Time Or When I Share: the app asks every time it needs it.
• While Using the App: the app sees your location only when it is open.
• Always: the app can use your location in the background too. Use this only for apps that need it, like a fitness tracker.

Precise Location: exact or approximate

Most apps also have a Precise Location switch. On, the app sees your exact position, which turn by turn directions need. Off, the app only sees a wide area. For a weather or news app, approximate is enough and protects your privacy.

System Services

Scroll to the bottom of the Location Services page and tap System Services. These are switches for iPhone features, not apps. Setting Time Zone is one of them, and Find My iPhone is another. Our guide to a time zone that will not change shows why the Setting Time Zone switch matters.

The arrow icon in the status bar

A small arrow near the top of the screen means an app has used your location, or may use it under certain conditions. To see which app, open Settings › Privacy & Security › Location Services, where each app shows its own arrow.

Location Services greyed out or off by itself?

• Check Settings › Screen Time › Content & Privacy Restrictions › Location Services and set it to Allow.
• A work or school profile may lock it. Look in Settings › General › VPN & Device Management.
• Restart the iPhone and open the setting again.

If Find My shows the wrong place, see Find My not updating location. To share your location with a friend on purpose, read how to share your location from iPhone.

Should you turn Location Services off?

For most people, no. Maps, weather, Find My and many other features need it. A better choice is to keep it on and set apps you do not trust to Never or While Using the App. Turn it off only if you have a reason, and remember that Find My cannot locate a lost iPhone while it is off.

Other ways to open Location Services

The standard path is Settings › Privacy & Security › Location Services. If you cannot find it, pull down on the Settings screen and type Location in the search box, then tap the result. You can also reach one app's location choice from that app's own page: open Settings, scroll to the app, tap it and choose Location. On an iPad the path is the same. An Apple Watch uses the iPhone's setting, and you can review it in the Watch app on the iPhone under Privacy.

Location Services, Find My and Share My Location are different

Three settings get mixed up. Location Services is the master switch that lets apps and the iPhone use your position. Find My is the feature that locates your lost devices. Share My Location is the choice to let family or friends see where you are, and it lives under Settings › your name › Find My. If you turn Location Services off, apps lose access to your position and Find My cannot show where the iPhone is, so think twice before you switch it off on a phone you might lose. To share on purpose, see our guide to sharing your location from iPhone.

See which apps used your location

You can check what your apps did. Go to Settings › Privacy & Security › App Privacy Report and turn it on. After a few days it lists which apps accessed your location and when. Inside Location Services, an arrow beside an app shows a recent use: a purple arrow means it used your location recently, and a gray arrow means it did within the last 24 hours. Use this list to switch off apps that ask for more than they need.

System Services you may want to review

At the bottom of the Location Services screen, tap System Services. Here you can turn off items such as location-based suggestions, Significant Locations (the history your iPhone keeps to learn your routine) and analytics. Keep Setting Time Zone on if you travel, and keep Emergency Calls & SOS on. Emergency calls can share your location with responders in some situations, so check Apple's page on Emergency SOS if you want details for your model and country.

A quick privacy check you can do today

Once you know where the setting is, spend two minutes on it. Open Location Services and scan the list from the top. Any app set to Always that you rarely open, such as a shopping or game app, can usually be changed to While Using the App or Never. Turn off Precise Location for apps that only need your city, like a weather widget. Do the same review every few months, because new apps ask for access when you install them and it is easy to tap Allow without thinking.