Your Carrier Is Tracking Your Every Move. This iPhone Trick Stops Them—But There’s a Big Catch
Your Carrier Is Tracking Your Every Move. This iPhone Trick Stops Them—But There’s a Big Catch
Publish Date: 2026-05-20 10:37:00
Source Domain: www.pcmag.com
Your phone’s location tracking features are a double-edged sword. Sure, it’s helpful to keep tabs on your kids or other family members, but what about how phone carriers are using this data? Many major phone carriers have already been fined by the FCC for sharing and selling your location data. If you want to protect yourself, you need to take some extra steps to lock down your privacy.
If you use an iPhone, iOS 26.3 introduced a precise location feature that puts some distance between you and your carrier—if your carrier and device support it. Here’s how to check who has access to your location data and customize your settings.
How to Manage Location Tracking on Your iPhone
(Credit: PCMag / Apple)
To manage who has access to your location data, go to Settings Privacy & Security Location Services, and choose the app you want to manage. Since iOS 14, there have been four options:
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Never ensures that location services will never be tracked while using this app.
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Ask Next Time or When I Share will ask how you want to proceed each time you open the app: Allow once, Allow while using, or Don’t allow.
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While Using the App tells the app to only utilize location tracking while it is actively in use on the screen, either in the app or via the on-screen widgets that iOS now supports. Some apps, such as Google Maps and Apple Maps, will also have While Using the App or Widgets as an option.
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Always will permit the app to always track an iOS device’s location, even when the app is not actively being used. Not all apps will have this option available.
If you want to know which apps have been requesting location data the most, look for the arrow icon next to its entry. A purple arrow means the app has used your location recently, while a gray arrow says that your data has been accessed in the last 24 hours. Depending on how often you use a specific app, this icon can help you determine if you need to rein in its data requests.
