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Precise Location on iPhone: what it is and how to turn it off

Precise Location decides whether an app gets your exact position or only an approximate one. It is set separately for every app, and switching it takes a few taps.

By the Locaflip team · Last updated

Precise Location on iPhone is a privacy setting that arrived with iOS 14. Until then, an app with location permission always received your position as exactly as the iPhone could measure it. Now there is a middle ground between “allowed” and “not allowed”: the app may know roughly where you are without knowing which building you are in. This guide explains what the setting does, how to change it, and when it makes sense to leave it on.

What is Precise Location on iPhone?

Apple’s description is brief. To allow an app to use your specific location, leave Precise Location turned on. To share only your approximate location, which Apple says may be sufficient for an app that doesn’t need your exact location, turn Precise Location off.

Three points follow from how the setting is built:

  • It is per app. There is no global Precise Location switch. Each app that has location access has its own.
  • It sits on top of the permission. The app still needs access (While Using the App, Always, and so on). Precise Location only controls how exact the answer is.
  • It doesn’t affect the iPhone itself. Your iPhone still determines its position from GPS, Bluetooth, Wi‑Fi hotspots and cell towers. The setting changes what a particular app is given.

Apple doesn’t state in its support documentation how large the approximate area is, so we won’t quote a figure. Treat it as “the general area” rather than a street address.

How to turn off Precise Location for an app

  1. Open Settings.
  2. Tap Privacy & Security, then Location Services.
  3. Tap the app you want to change.
  4. Turn Precise Location off.

To turn it back on, follow the same steps and switch it on. The change applies immediately. If the app isn’t in the list, it has never asked for your location, so there is nothing to limit.

On the same screen you can change the permission itself: Never, Ask Next Time Or When I Share, While Using the App or Always. If you would rather the app got nothing at all, choose Never; see how to turn off location on iPhone.

Which apps need Precise Location?

A simple test: would the app be useless if it were wrong by a few streets?

  • Leave it on for navigation and maps, ride hailing and deliveries to your current position, fitness apps that record a route, and anything you use to find a specific device or person. Apple notes, for example, that you need Precise Location turned on for the Find My app to see how far away your friends are.
  • It can be off for weather, local news, store finders that list branches in your city, and most apps that only want to know your region or country.
  • Consider Never for apps where location adds nothing you use.

If an app stops working properly after you turn Precise Location off, it will usually tell you. Switching it back on takes a few seconds.

Precise Location vs. turning location off

These settings are easy to mix up, so here is how they differ:

  • Precise Location off: the app knows approximately where you are.
  • Permission set to Never: the app gets no Location Services information.
  • Location Services off: no app gets your location, and Apple warns that many iPhone features stop working.
  • Stop sharing in Find My: concerns people, not apps. See how to stop sharing location on iPhone.

None of them changes where the iPhone thinks it is. Reporting a different position is a separate, developer-oriented feature called location simulation, described in how to change location on iPhone.

Review all your apps in two minutes

The Location Services list shows every app that has asked for your location and what you allowed. It is worth going through it once:

  1. Open Settings › Privacy & Security › Location Services.
  2. For each app, ask whether it needs your location at all. If not, choose Never.
  3. If it does, ask whether it needs to be exact. If not, turn Precise Location off.
  4. Check any app set to Always. Background access is rarely necessary; While Using the App covers most uses.

When an app is using Location Services, an arrow icon appears in the status bar. When an app is allowed to use your location in the background, iOS reminds you from time to time and shows the locations on a map, so you can change your mind.

Frequently asked questions

Should Precise Location be on or off?

On for apps that have to know exactly where you are, such as navigation and Find My. Off for apps that only need your general area, such as weather or local news.

Does turning off Precise Location hide my location?

No. The app still receives an approximate location. To give an app no location at all, set its access to Never.

Can I turn off Precise Location for all apps at once?

Apple’s documentation describes the setting per app only. You change it for each app in Settings › Privacy & Security › Location Services.

Does Find My work without Precise Location?

Apple says to turn on Precise Location for the Find My app if you want to see how far away your friends are.

Which iPhones have Precise Location?

The setting is available in iOS 14 and later.

Sources

This guide is published by the Locaflip team. Locaflip is a Mac app that simulates an iPhone’s GPS location for development, testing and demos; you don’t need it for anything on this page. About Locaflip