How to Manage Location Settings on Android

Your Android phone contains a GPS chip that can pinpoint your exact location at any moment. Many apps request permission to use that information — some for good reasons, like navigation or weather, and some primarily for advertising and data collection. Understanding how location permissions work and how to review them gives you meaningful control over your privacy.

The main location setting for your entire phone is found in Settings under Location. There is a master toggle at the top — when this is off, no app on your phone can access your location at all. Turning it off is useful in situations where you want complete privacy, though it also disables navigation apps and any location-based features.

Below the master toggle, you will find a list of apps that have requested location access. Tap "App permissions" to see the full list, organized into three categories: apps allowed all the time, apps allowed only while in use, and apps that are not allowed. This is where most people are surprised — you may find that many apps have "Allow all the time" access, meaning they can track your location constantly even when you are not actively using them.

For the vast majority of apps, "Allow only while using the app" is the right setting. This means the app can access your location while you are actively using it but cannot track you in the background. The only apps that genuinely need "Allow all the time" access are things like Find My Device, automatic trip logging apps, or apps specifically designed to work in the background.

Google Maps keeps a separate record called Location History, which stores a timeline of everywhere you have traveled. You can turn this off or delete past history by opening Google Maps, tapping your profile picture, going to "Your data in Maps," and then "Location History." You can pause location history or delete specific time periods.

For apps that have no reason to know your location — social media, shopping apps, news apps — set the permission to "Don't allow." They will still function for their core purpose. You will occasionally see a prompt asking to enable location for a feature, and you can decide in that moment whether it is worth it.

Using "Approximate location" instead of "Precise location" is another option available in Android 12 and later. When you choose this, the app sees a general area rather than your exact address. This is useful for apps that need a rough sense of your city or region but do not need to know your exact street address.