Knowing how to turn off Significant Locations in iPhone is a must for the security conscious, because while Apple proudly proclaims privacy to be one of its core values, that doesn’t mean it won’t ever track you.
To an extent, that’s understandable — it wouldn’t work very well if it didn’t track at least some of what you’re doing. Plus, iOS 15 does contain a bunch of new privacy and security upgrades that do help protect your data.
However, there are some settings where the rewards are less obvious — and which you therefore might prefer just to switch off entirely. One of these is “Significant Locations.” This iOS feature records your frequently visited locations, allowing Apple to offer services such as personalized traffic updates.
The company says that this data is only stored on your device and is not shared with anyone else. It’s also end-to-end encrypted and cannot be read by Apple. However, it’s not entirely clear how helpful it actually is: why does my iPhone need to know that I visited a particular cafe last week, or when I last went to the train station?
Fortunately, turning it off is an easy thing to do, as TikToker Scott Polderman has demonstrated in a video that has amassed an impressive 22.3 million views at the time of publishing.
@scottpolderman
♬ Suspens Game – JJ
That might sound like an awful lot of views for a video that outlines a simple task that requires only seven steps, but it brings home just how hard it is to find some iOS settings.
That’s true of Android phones too, of course — but it doesn’t make it any less annoying. The main iOS Settings menu has around 50 distinct submenus; Privacy has another 20 options; Location Settings another seven. And on it goes. Unless you know where you’re looking, you likely won’t find it.
Anyway, we can show you where to find it — so here’s our step-by-step guide to how to disable Significant Locations in iOS.
How to turn off Significant Locations and stop your iPhone tracking you
1. To turn off Significant Locations on iPhone, open the Settings app on your device.
2. Scroll down and tap “Privacy.”
3. Tap “Location Services.”
4. Scroll to the bottom of this menu, then tap “System Services.”
5. Now, tap “Significant Locations.”
6. Tap the toggle next to “Significant Locations.“
7. Then finally, tap “Turn Off” on the prompt to deactivate Significant Locations.
Obviously that’s only one of the various tracking options in iOS 15, but it’s a good place to start if you want to limit your phone’s knowledge of your movements.
For more iOS-related tutorials, check out our guides to the hidden iPhone features everyone should know, how to mirror the front camera on iPhone and how to access the iPhone weather app map. And for more general tips, see our iPhone 13 starter guide.
