iOS Internals · iPhone Privacy Controls · Lesson 2 of 5

Location Services

Learn how apps earn background location and what iOS itself remembers.

While Using, Always and the second prompt

An app's location permission has two separate parts. One is when the app may get your location. The other is how exact that location is.

For the "when" part, go to Settings, Privacy & Security, Location Services and tap an app. You'll see choices such as Never, Ask Next Time, While Using the App and Always (the exact labels vary a little between iOS versions). An app counts as "in use" while it's on screen and for a short time after you leave it. If an app with While Using keeps tracking you in the background, such as during navigation, iOS shows a blue pill in the status bar so you can tell.

Always lets an app get your location at any time, and iOS can even launch the app quietly to handle some location events. That's a big step, so iOS makes apps earn it in two stages:

• First, the app must get While Using. Even when an app asks for Always right away, the first prompt only offers Allow While Using App, Allow Once or Don't Allow.
• Later, the app may ask again. This second prompt offers Keep Only While Using or Change to Always Allow. It often appears when you're not using the app at all, at the moment the app first needs your location in the background.

An app gets only one shot at that upgrade. If you tapped Allow Once, it can't ask for Always at all.

Saying yes isn't the end, either. When an app uses your location in the background, your iPhone reminds you from time to time, shows a map of the places the app accessed, and asks whether to keep allowing it.

The "how exact" part is the Precise Location switch on the same screen, added in iOS 14. Off means approximate. A weather app works fine that way. Turn-by-turn directions don't.

What iOS itself knows

Apps aren't the only thing using your location. iOS has its own features that use it, listed in Settings, Privacy & Security, Location Services, System Services. Apple gives location-based suggestions and location-based ads as examples. You can switch each one off, and there's an option to show the location icon in the status bar whenever these system services use your location.

One entry deserves a closer look: Significant Locations, called Significant Locations & Routes in the newest versions. Your iPhone learns places that matter to you, such as home and work, and uses them for features like predictive traffic routing in Maps. Apple says this history is end-to-end encrypted and can't be read by Apple. It still reveals your routine to anyone who can browse your unlocked phone. You can tap Clear History to erase it everywhere you're signed in with the same Apple Account.

Think before you turn it off completely, though. Stolen Device Protection uses it to tell "home" from "away", and it needs Significant Locations turned on to work.

To spot location use as it happens, watch the status bar. A small arrow appears there, or in Control Center, when an app or service is using Location Services. The blue pill you met earlier means an app is tracking you in the background. Since iOS 16, Control Center can also show which apps are using, or have recently used, your location.

A few more facts help. In an emergency call, your iPhone may share its location to help responders, even if Location Services is off. Turning Location Services off entirely breaks many features, so per-app choices are usually better. And if your settings feel like a mess, Settings, General, Transfer or Reset iPhone, Reset, Reset Location & Privacy returns every app to asking again.