Apps installed on your phone can sometimes track your web and app activity outside of those specific apps – even when you’re not using them. This activity data is often sold to third parties to help them make advertising decisions. With iOS 15, they can no longer track your data on your iPhone without your permission, but sometimes it’s easier to block an app from asking for data at all. We’ll show you how.

Disable location tracking completely

To be honest, this seems like overkill, but you might be right. But remember that disabling location tracking means even Apple Maps can’t give you accurate data. You also won’t be able to use the Find My iPhone feature. But here’s how.

• Open the Settings app.
• Scroll down and click Privacy.
• Select Location services.
• In the next menu at the top, uncheck Location services.
• Remove individual device.

There are a number of ways to remove specific devices from the app search. Open your phone settings and tap your name. Scroll down to see the different devices, select the device you want to remove, and then select Remove from account to disconnect it from your Apple ID. You can also delete devices from the Devices tab in the Find My app. Tap a device and select Remove this device from the pop-up menu to disconnect it from your account.

If you have an iPhone 11 or later

If you have a phone with an Apple U1 chip (such as an iPhone 11 or newer) and you’ve turned off location services for certain apps, you may still see the arrows. According to Apple, this is because these models use ultrawideband technology, which Apple says is regulated so that phones use location services to determine if they are in an area where ultrawideband connectivity is limited.

The iPhone prompts for location data when it sets the location settings for each app. If you turn off location services completely, you stop these location requests because your phone can’t collect location data.

Prevent iPhone from tracking your location

As mentioned earlier, iPhone also tracks the places you visit and uses this information to give you location-based recommendations in Calendar, Photos, and other apps.
According to Apple, this data is protected by strong end-to-end encryption and cannot be read by anyone.

You can prevent your iPhone from recording your location at any time by going to Settings > Privacy > Location Services > System Services.