Use location services

About location information

You can let your phone use GPS, Wi‑Fi networks, mobile networks, and sensors to estimate your location. Apps that have your permission can use this information to deliver location-based services, such as the ability to check in, view traffic, find nearby restaurants, or tag your photos with the location where you took them.

Turn location on or off

To control what location information your phone can use:

  1. Go to Settings > LOCATION.

  2. Turn it on or off to give or remove permission to use your location information.

    When it's off, your phone can't find your precise location or share it with any apps. However, turning this off disables many useful features and apps.

  3. Touch Mode and choose how to estimate your location:

    • High accuracy uses GPS, Wi-Fi, mobile networks, and Google's location service to get the most accurate location.
    • Battery saving uses less battery-intensive location sources (Wi-Fi, mobile networks, and Google's location service).
    • Device only uses GPS only. This mode may use more battery power and take longer.
TipTo add a Location tile to quick settings, open quick settings. Touch . Then drag the Location tile where you want it.

Review apps using your location

To see which apps have recently accessed your location:

  1. Go to Settings > LOCATION.
  2. Under Recent location requests, review the list of apps that recently received your location.

  3. To prevent an app from accessing your location:

    1. Touch the app name.
    2. Touch Permissions.
    3. Turn Location off .

Review services using your location

  1. Go to Settings > LOCATION > Advanced.

  2. Touch a service to open its settings:

    • Emergency Location Service: Sends your location to emergency responders when you call or text an emergency number.
    • Google Location History: Clear saved location details and turn location history on or off.
    • Google Location Sharing: View who’s sharing your location, change sharing duration, and stop sharing.

Fix an issue

Issue: Location isn't working

After each step, check to see if the issue is fixed.

  1. Turn location off and then on again.
  2. Turn airplane mode on, wait 15-20 seconds, then turn it off again.
  3. If you're using a case, remove it and check if GPS is working. The case might be obstructing the sensor.
  4. Check if Battery Saver is on. To save power, when Battery Saver is on, your phone disables location services.
  5. Turn your phone off and then on again.
  6. Check for updates to the Maps app. After updating the app, restart your phone.
  7. Clear the cache and data for the Maps app.

  8. Use safe mode to see if apps you installed are causing the issue and uninstall as needed.

    If location works correctly in safe mode, a 3rd party app is probably causing the issue. A lot of apps use your phone's location. If these apps end up with corrupted files, it can affect your phone’s location too.

Issue: Location isn't accurate

Let your phone scan for nearby Wi-Fi networks or Bluetooth devices:

  1. Go to Settings > LOCATION.
  2. Touch > Scanning.
  3. Turn Wi‑Fi scanning and Bluetooth scanning on .