Turning off location services on an Android phone limits how much data apps and advertisers collect about where we go, cuts down on unnecessary battery drain, and closes one of the easiest ways for background apps to build a profile of our daily habits. Location services is the system-level feature that lets a phone estimate its position using GPS (the Global Positioning System satellite network), Wi-Fi signals, Bluetooth beacons, and cell tower data, and on most Android devices it runs by default for dozens of apps at once. At CyberJaz, we help small businesses across the Pittsburgh area review everyday device habits like this one, and location tracking is one of the simplest privacy fixes most people have never gotten around to making.
What does location tracking actually collect?
Android does not just check where we are in the moment. It can also keep a running history of where we have been, stored on the device or in a Google account depending on how Timeline (Google’s saved location history feature) is configured. Apps, advertisers, and system services can pull from that history to build a fairly detailed picture of daily routines, including where we live and where we spend our workdays.
Android is not the only platform doing this. Apple runs a comparable location history on iPhones through a feature called Significant Locations, which logs the places visited often enough to matter and feeds that history into features like Photos memories and Maps predictions. Unlike Android’s Timeline, which stays off until someone opts in, Significant Locations is on by default the moment Location Services is turned on, tucked several menus deep under Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services > System Services, which is why most iPhone owners have never seen it, let alone turned it off. Apple does encrypt that data end to end and says it cannot read it, a real protection Android’s Timeline only offers as an optional backup setting rather than the default. Both platforms end up logging the same kind of history. They just differ in whether collecting it needs permission first. We walk through the iPhone-side controls in our guide to limiting location data on iOS.
Companies that request this data often frame it as a way to improve the app experience, and sometimes that is accurate. But it still leaves a basic question unanswered: who has access to that history once it exists, and how securely is it stored? The Federal Trade Commission’s guide to protecting your privacy online walks through how this kind of tracking works and which settings actually limit it, on both browsers and phones.
Turning off location services when we do not need them limits how much of this information ever leaves the device. It is a straightforward way to cut down our digital footprint without losing core phone functionality, since navigation apps and rideshare apps prompt for access again the moment we open them.
How does location tracking drain the battery?
Location tracking is not only a privacy issue. It is also a quiet drain on battery life. Pinpointing a phone’s position uses GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and mobile network signals together, and all of that activity draws power, especially when several apps are requesting location data in the background at once. This is often the real explanation when a battery drops faster than expected over the course of a normal day.
Turning off location services altogether, or at minimum restricting which apps can access it, tends to produce a noticeable improvement. The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s guidance on privacy and mobile device apps recommends reviewing exactly this kind of setting, including the option most Android phones offer to set an app’s location access to “only while using the app” instead of “always,” which limits how much power and data those background requests use.
Why do so many apps ask for location access?
Not every app needs to know where we are, but plenty ask anyway. A puzzle game or a flashlight app might request location not because it needs to function, but to collect data for targeted advertising or analytics.
Leaving location services on by default makes it easier for apps to accumulate these broad permissions without much scrutiny. Over months of downloading games and shopping apps, it is common to end up granting location access to dozens of apps most of us barely remember installing.
Turning off location services forces every app to ask for access at the moment it is actually needed, which makes it much easier to notice when a request does not make sense. Android’s own settings make it simple to see which apps currently have access and adjust or revoke individual location permissions in a few taps. The same review is worth running after cleaning up a device that has been compromised: our walkthrough on how to remove Android malware without IT support covers the permission checks worth running afterward.
For a business managing a fleet of Android phones, the same permission creep multiplies across every device an employee carries into client meetings around Pittsburgh. Our mobile device security guide for businesses covers how to standardize app permissions across a team, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s mobile device guidelines recommend treating location settings as one of several baseline controls IT should review on a regular schedule.
How do we turn off location services without losing convenience?
Turning off location services does not mean giving up the features that rely on it. It means using them on our own terms. Android lets us keep location off by default and switch it on only for the moment we need it, through Settings > Location, or fine-tune which specific apps are trusted with access at all.
If the concern goes beyond GPS, such as being tracked by IP address on public Wi-Fi, a VPN (a virtual private network that masks the IP address our traffic appears to come from) closes that gap too. Combined with a few habits covered in our tips for safeguarding mobile devices, adjusting location permissions shuts off most of the unnecessary tracking within a few minutes.
Frequently asked questions
Does turning off location services stop all tracking on an Android phone?
No. Turning off location services stops on-device GPS and Wi-Fi or Bluetooth-based positioning, but websites and apps can still estimate a rough location from an IP address. A VPN or browser-level privacy settings address that separate gap.
How do we turn off location services on Android?
Open Settings, tap Location, and switch it off, or manage individual app permissions from the same menu. Most Android versions also offer a “while using the app” option that limits access without turning location off completely.
Will turning off location services affect apps like Maps or Uber?
Navigation and rideshare apps will simply prompt for location access again the next time we open them. Turning location off system-wide does not delete an app’s ability to ask; it just stops that access from running silently in the background.
Does location tracking really affect battery life?
Yes. Constantly checking GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and cell signals to determine position uses measurable power, especially when several apps request location in the background at once. Limiting which apps can access location tends to produce a noticeable improvement.
Which apps should never need location access?
Utility apps such as flashlight and calculator apps have no functional reason to request location. If an app asks for access it clearly does not need, that is a reasonable moment to deny the request or delete the app.
Reviewing Android location settings and app permissions takes a few minutes, and the amount of control it hands back is usually worth it. When keeping every device across a growing team locked down starts to feel like more than internal IT can manage alone, reach out to our team today and we can walk through what is tracking those devices and what should be turned off.
