Location Services in macOS are used by a whole host of apps and websites to provide several dissimilar services.

They allow calendar apps to tell you how long information technology volition accept y'all to get to an engagement, for example. And, of class, they allow Apple's Find My services to locate you lot, your friends, or your devices. However, they also allow search engines to show you adverts relevant to your location. And location data is personal, and then you might not want every possible app or website to have access to it. Fortunately, y'all can control who tin can see your location data and when. Here's how.

How to disable Location Services on Mac

Disable location services on Mac
  1. Go to the Apple tree menu and choose Arrangement Preferences.
  2. Select Security & Privacy.
  3. Choose the Privacy tab.
  4. Select Location Services on the left-hand side.
  5. Click on the padlock and type in your admin name and password.
  6. Uncheck the box adjacent to Enable Location Services.
  7. Quit System Preferences.

With Location Services switched off, no app or web service volition be able to admission location data on your Mac. Manifestly, that will touch how some apps and services work and prevent others from working at all. Google Maps, for example, may not able to provide directions from your current location. Yet, information technology won't prevent websites and apps from gaining any information at all virtually your location. For example, some will detect your IP address and try and employ that to determine your location. That's why, if you use Twitter, for instance, you may yet see the name of the city or region you're in on tweets you lot post. Other sites may use cookies stored in your browser when you did allow access to location data – those are non deleted when you plow off Location Services. In fact, location data, such every bit metadata in images, is retained in files when you switch off Location Services.

If y'all'd rather exercise more than nuanced control over which apps can access location information, here's how to do it.

  1. Follows steps ane-5 above.
  2. Leave the Enable Location Services box checks, merely go through the list of apps and uncheck the ones you don't want to access your location. Those that have used location data recently are flagged with the Location Services icon.
  3. Quit System Preferences.

If you take this approach to control your location information, it's worth turning on the location indicator in the card bar, and so you can meet when an app or service is using it.

Manage location services on your Mac
  1. Follow steps 1-5 in How to Disable Location Services.
  2. Scroll downwardly to Arrangement Services and click Details.
  3. Check the box adjacent to the "Show location icon in the menu bar when Organisation Services request your location"
  4. Printing Done and quit System Preferences.

How to plough on Location Services on Mac

  1. Click on the Apple carte and choose System Preferences.
  2. Select the Security & Privacy pane.
  3. Click on the Privacy tab.
  4. Cull Location Services.
  5. Select the padlock and type in your admin username and countersign.
  6. Check the box next to Enable Location Services.
  7. You will see apps that want admission to Location Services listed in the main window. Those that have admission have a checkmark side by side to their name.
  8. Uncheck whatever apps you don't want to have access to your location data.
  9. Quit System Preferences.

If your main concern near assuasive apps and services access your location information is privacy, and particularly if y'all are worried well-nigh being tracked, there'south a great deal more yous tin can exercise to protect yourself. The first pace is to manage the permissions you lot requite to programs on your Mac. I've been using CleanMyMac 10 to check and control which apps can access the microphone, camera, and specific folders on my Mac. The app shows all permissions your apps have and lets you remove them speedily.

Here's how to employ information technology to control app permissions

CleanMyMac X - Application permissions
  1. Install and launch CleanMyMac X — a link to download the free edition
  2. Choose Privacy in the sidebar.
  3. Check the boxes adjacent to the apps to revoke their permissions.
  4. Printing Remove.

At that place are a few other things you can exercise to forbid apps and websites from tracking you. The first is to swap Google for DuckDuckGo. Whereas Google grabs as much data as it tin most you lot to feed to advertisers so they can display relevant adverts, DuckDuckGo doesn't track yous and doesn't display adverts.

Y'all could as well consider using a virtual private network (VPN). By signing upward for a VPN service, you ensure that all the data transmitted to and from your Mac is encrypted. You tin likewise choose which land it looks like you're connecting from. Then yous can be as anonymous as you lot similar. Your ISP won't know what sites you're visiting, and the websites you visit won't know where yous've come from.

There are also a number of extensions that tin assistance secure your privacy while you surf the spider web. Ghostery Calorie-free blocks ads and trackers, and y'all tin customize information technology so that you tin choose to allow some adverts. Traffic Light helps protect you from phishing attacks by finding hidden trackers and warning you about malicious websites.

By the fashion, did you know that CleanMyMac X tin manage your browser extensions and scan your Mac for malware?

Location Services in macOS can be very useful, particularly when it comes to getting directions, locating people or devices, or just finding the nearest branch of your favorite shop. Yet, there are times when you might not want to hand over location data. Fortunately, it's very easy to control who can access or plough it off birthday by following the steps higher up.