To turn off location tracking on Android, swipe down twice from the top of your screen, tap the Location icon in Quick Settings so it is no longer highlighted, then tap Close. For a permanent change, open Settings > Location and switch Use location off. Both take under ten seconds.
That toggle is the front door, though. It stops GPS and the fused location provider, but it does not touch your Google account history, per-app permissions you already granted, or the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth signals your phone keeps scanning for. The pages that rank for this question all show the same four taps and stop there, which is exactly why so many people flip the switch and then say it did not work.
Below is the full sequence: the global switch, per-app permissions, scanning signals, location history, and a way to check that the changes stuck. Menus shift between Android versions and manufacturers, so I have included the Samsung One UI path next to the stock one. Last reviewed October 2026 on a Pixel and a Galaxy S-series phone.
Table of Contents›
- What You Need
- Step-by-Step: How to Turn Off Location Tracking on Android
- Disable the main location service
- Turn off location for individual apps
- Disable Wi-Fi and Bluetooth scanning
- Remove or adjust location history
- Verify the settings changed
- Common mistakes
- Frequently Asked Questions
- Does airplane mode turn off location tracking on Android?
- Can apps still track my location if I turn off location services?
- What is the difference between location services and app location permissions?
- How do I stop Google from recording my Location History?
- Why does my Android phone still show a location icon after I change the setting?
- Will turning off location tracking affect maps, weather, or emergency features?
- Conclusion
What You Need
Nothing to buy and nothing to install. You need your phone, its screen lock, and about three minutes.
What does matter is knowing which menu you are looking at. Stock Android and Pixel put Location near the top of the Settings app. Samsung buries it under Connections on One UI. Xiaomi and OnePlus keep their own layout too. Before you start, open Settings and scroll once so you can see where your version puts things.
Second thing to know: the global switch is a blunt instrument. Turning it off kills turn-by-turn navigation, ride-hailing pin drop, local weather, most fitness apps, camera geotags, and automatic time zone. Emergency location is the exception worth protecting.
Step-by-Step: How to Turn Off Location Tracking on Android
Disable the main location service
The fastest path takes about five seconds and the setting stays off until you turn it back on.
- Swipe down twice from the top of the screen.
- Tap the Location tile until it is no longer highlighted.
- Tap Close.
The permanent version lives in Settings. On most versions it is Settings > Location > Use location. On a Samsung Galaxy running One UI, it is Settings > Connections > Location Services > Use location services. That extra hop under Connections is the single most common reason Samsung owners assume the feature is missing.
Recent versions show three states rather than a plain on or off: On, Off, and Using only while using other apps. The middle state keeps Wi-Fi and Bluetooth positioning alive while refusing to hand a fix to apps, which is a reasonable middle ground if you want to cut the data trail but still get indoor positioning.
You can tell it worked two ways. The Quick Settings tile stops being highlighted, and the location indicator that normally sits in the top-right corner of the status bar disappears when no app is requesting a fix.
Turn off location for individual apps
This is where most of the real tracking lives. Even with the global switch on, any app holding a location permission can log you when you open it.
Go to Settings > Apps > See all apps, pick an app, tap Permissions > Location, and choose your state. Samsung puts the same screen at Settings > Apps > [app name] > Permissions > Location. To see everything at once, open the permission manager directly: Settings > Privacy > Permission manager > Location, then sort by the app or permission you want to audit.
| Permission state | What it allows | When to pick it |
|---|---|---|
| Allow only while using the app | A location fix while the app is open, plus during a session you started | Maps, ride-hailing, camera, fitness apps |
| Allow all the time | Continuous background access, including with the screen off and the app closed | Rarely justified. Delivery apps and parcel tracking are the honest exceptions |
| Ask every time | A prompt on each use | Anything you use occasionally and are unsure about |
| Don’t allow | Nothing | Social apps, shopping apps, streaming apps, anything you do not need to know where you are |
Since Android 12, apps can also be granted approximate location, which is a blurred fix accurate to about a city block or better. Revoking precise access does not automatically strip that coarser grant, so check the permission screen twice. If a permission shows approximate only, Android 13 and later offer a Precise toggle in the same dialog.
Background location, which is what Allow all the time really grants, is the setting people forget. Sort the permission list and look for any app sitting there permanently.
Disable Wi-Fi and Bluetooth scanning
Switching off GPS does not make your phone invisible. Cell towers, nearby Wi-Fi networks and Bluetooth beacons still tell Google Play services roughly where you are.
Under Settings > Location > Location services, look for Wi-Fi scanning and Bluetooth scanning and switch them off. On some versions these live under Settings > Location > Location services > Improve accuracy. Nearby-device discovery is a separate permission under Settings > Connected devices > Connection preferences > Nearby devices.
| Method | Does the location switch stop it? | How to stop it |
|---|---|---|
| Cell-tower positioning | Partly | Airplane mode, or switching the phone off |
| Wi-Fi network scanning | No | Turn off Wi-Fi scanning under Location services |
| Bluetooth beacons | No | Turn off Bluetooth scanning, then Nearby devices |
| IP-based location | No | A VPN changes what your network sees |
| Find My Device | No | Switch the network and Global settings off in the Find My Device app |
| Family tracking apps | No, while they hold a live session | Stop sharing inside the app, then revoke its location permission |
| Your Google account | No | Location History and ad personalization live in the account, not the phone |
Airplane mode is worth being precise about. It stops GPS from getting a fix, but GPS hardware can still log onto satellites briefly, and the cell connection returns the moment you leave the mode. Switching the phone off is the only hard stop.
Remove or adjust location history
Here is the part most guides skip. Turning off Android location does not delete what Google already recorded, and it does not stop account-level activity controls.
- Open Google app or go to myactivity.google.com.
- Choose Location history and switch Location History off.
- Set Delete automatic history to a range such as three months.
- Tap Delete history to clear what is stored.
- In Settings > Accounts > Google > Manage your Google Account > Data & privacy, review activity controls for Web and App Activity.
- For advertising, use Settings > Privacy > Ads, or your Google Account’s Ads personalization page, and reset your advertising ID.
Resizing your location history to the last three months is the better long-term setting than switching it fully off, because the account keeps recording new visits unless it is off or the retention window is set.
Verify the settings changed
Four checks, none of them requiring an app.
- Open Quick Settings. The Location tile should not be highlighted.
- Look at the top-right status bar. No location icon should appear when you open an app that would normally ask.
- Open the location permission manager and confirm the main Location switch reads off, and that no unexpected app holds Allow all the time.
- Open Google Maps and search for a place without your dot showing. If Maps offers a one-time permission prompt, the switch flipped correctly.
Common mistakes
Trying to follow the stock path on a Samsung phone. If Location is not on the main Settings list, you are on One UI. Go to Connections > Location Services instead.
Treating airplane mode as the same thing. Airplane mode blocks a GPS fix while it is on and lets GPS hardware log a short burst as it comes back. It is a temporary block, not a setting change.
Leaving background location behind. Flipping the global switch does not remove a permission already granted. Open the permission manager and sort by location to see what is holding Allow all the time.
Stopping at the phone level and wondering why Google still knows things. Location History and ad personalization are account settings. They keep working exactly as before until you change them in the account.
Switching off Find My Device without reading the warning. Re-enabling it later requires the Google account password, and whoever added it may know that password. If the phone might be stolen, leave Find My Device on and change your Google account password first.
Ignoring the location icon in the status bar. That icon means an app is actively getting a fix. Tap it to see which one, then fix that app’s permission instead of blaming the global switch.
Expecting approximate location to disappear with precise. Approximate is a separate grant on current Android versions and survives a precise revocation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does airplane mode turn off location tracking on Android?
Not completely. Airplane mode stops your phone from holding a normal cellular data connection and blocks most GPS fixes, but the GPS hardware can still briefly acquire satellites as it comes out of the mode, and it resumes fully the second you reconnect. Treat airplane mode as a short-term block. For a setting that stays off, use the Use location switch in Settings, and switch the phone off completely if you need a hard stop.
Can apps still track my location if I turn off location services?
They can track other things, but not your position from the sensors. With the global switch off, GPS, Wi-Fi scanning and Bluetooth scanning are cut off, so an app can only infer a rough area from your IP address or nearby cell connections. Apps with location permissions already granted will prompt again or sit blank. Account-level records such as Google Location History are a separate system and keep collecting until you change them.
What is the difference between location services and app location permissions?
Location services is the phone-wide switch in Settings, and it decides whether the hardware can produce a location fix at all. App location permissions are the per-app grants that decide who is allowed to see that fix once it exists. Think of the first as the tap on the faucet and the second as which glasses get filled. Turning off the tap is faster, and turning off a single permission solves most complaints without breaking navigation.
How do I stop Google from recording my Location History?
Open the Google app, tap your profile picture, choose Timeline, then turn off Location History at the top. Under Settings, set Delete automatic history to a window such as three months and tap Delete history to clear what is stored. Doing this in the phone’s Settings app will not work, because this is an account feature. Your history can also be reviewed and deleted at myactivity.google.com from any browser.
Why does my Android phone still show a location icon after I change the setting?
That icon in the status bar means an app or a system service is actively requesting a fix. Two things cause it after you thought you were finished: an app that still holds Allow all the time, or a system feature such as Find My Device and emergency location that keeps a request alive. Tap the icon to see which app it is, then change that app’s location permission rather than repeatedly toggling the global switch.
Will turning off location tracking affect maps, weather, or emergency features?
Maps loses turn-by-turn guidance and your live dot, though you can still search places by name. Weather apps fall back to a manually set city, and fitness apps stop recording routes. Emergency location is the one exception worth keeping: Android can still send a rough position during a call to emergency services in many regions, and network-based location keeps working when the GPS switch is off. Keep it on if you rely on it.
Conclusion
Start with the permission manager rather than the global switch. Open it, sort by location, and set everything you did not deliberately grant to Don’t allow. That fixes the majority of tracking without costing you navigation, weather or emergency location. Only flip the main switch off if you are testing whether anything changes, and remember that the Google account settings keep recording either way.
