How to Turn Off Location Services on Your Child's iPhone or iPad

Phones are very good at knowing where they are, and many apps want that information. Some need it, like maps and weather. Others mostly use it for advertising or social features that broadcast where your child is. For kids, location is one of the most sensitive pieces of data a phone collects, because it can reveal where they live, where they go to school and where they spend their afternoons.

The good news is that iPhone and iPad let you control location access in detail. This guide shows how to turn it off, how to limit it app by app (usually the better choice), and how to keep your child from changing it back.

Where the settings live

All location controls are in one place:

Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services

At the top is the main Location Services switch. Below it is every app that has asked for location, plus Share My Location and System Services at the bottom.

Option 1: Turn off Location Services completely

1. Open Settings.
2. Tap Privacy & Security.
3. Tap Location Services.
4. Switch Location Services off and confirm.

This stops every app from using location. It sounds like the safest option, but it has real downsides:

• Find My can't locate the device if it's lost or stolen.
• Family location sharing stops working, so you can't see where your child is.
• Maps and directions don't know where you are.
• Emergency location sharing is still provided to emergency services when calling 911 in the US, but other safety features that rely on location may be limited.

For most families, turning off location entirely creates more problems than it solves.

Option 2: Limit location app by app (recommended)

In the Location Services list, tap any app to choose:

• Never: the app can't use location.
• Ask Next Time Or When I Share: the app has to ask each time.
• While Using the App: location only when the app is open on screen.
• Always: location even in the background. Few apps need this.

You'll also see a Precise Location switch. Turning it off gives the app only an approximate area rather than an exact spot. That's plenty for weather, shopping and many other apps.

A sensible setup for kids

Social apps deserve special attention. Some offer location-based features like map views of friends or location tags on posts. Turning location to Never for those apps prevents your child from accidentally broadcasting where they are. Our guide to Instagram for parents covers location settings inside one of the most popular apps.

Remove location from photos

By default, the iPhone camera can save the location where each photo was taken inside the photo file. If your child shares photos directly, that information can travel with them.

• Stop it at the source: In Location Services, tap Camera and choose Never.
• Remove it when sharing: In the Photos app, select a photo, tap Share, then tap Options at the top and turn off Location before sending.

Most major social networks strip location data from uploaded photos, but messages, email and AirDrop may not.

Check System Services

At the bottom of the Location Services list, System Services controls how iOS itself uses location. Worth a look:

• Significant Locations & Routes keeps a record of places your child visits often. Our article on Frequent Locations explains how to clear and turn it off.
• Location-Based Suggestions and Location-Based Alerts can be turned off if you don't use them.
• Status Bar Icon shows an arrow when system services are using location. Turning it on helps you notice background use.

Lock the settings with Screen Time

Kids can change all of these settings unless you lock them. Screen Time can prevent changes to Location Services.

• On iOS 27 with Family Sharing: on your own device, go to Settings > Family > [your child] > Content & Privacy Restrictions and find the privacy settings, then set Location Services to not allow changes.
• On earlier versions: go to Settings > Screen Time (choose your child if using Family Sharing) > Content & Privacy Restrictions > Location Services, and select Don't Allow Changes.

Set everything the way you want before locking it, because the lock prevents changes in both directions. Also make sure your Screen Time passcode is one your child doesn't know.

Location sharing is a separate choice

Turning off location for apps doesn't stop your child from sharing their location with people through Find My or Messages. That's controlled separately. You may want family location sharing on, so you can see where your child is, while making sure they aren't sharing with anyone else. Our article on location sharing on iOS walks through it.

Talk about it

Settings help, but kids also need to understand why location matters:

• Posting a photo with a location tag tells strangers where you are.
• "Live" location features in apps can show exactly where you are right now.
• Sharing location with a friend means they can see it until you turn it off.

Checklist

• Location Services left on, so Find My and family sharing work
• Every app reviewed: Never or While Using for most, Precise off where not needed
• Camera location set to Never
• Significant Locations cleared or turned off
• Location Services changes locked in Screen Time
• Location sharing limited to family, with a conversation about why