Enabling and Disabling Geolocation in Your Browser

How often do websites ask you for your location? Probably more often than you think. By changing just one setting in your web browser, you can prevent websites from accessing your location (and stop those annoying pop-ups from your browser asking for permission to share your location). This guide covers how to turn off location sharing on mobile and desktop for the following browsers: When you navigate to a website and a window pops up asking for your location, that website is attempting to use geolocation . Sites want to know where you’re located so they can show you relevant content, products, services, or ads for your region. The site uses the information in your IP address and its connected network, often incorporating IP geofencing , to match you to known locations. Most websites still work fine if you don’t allow them to access your location. And you may wish not to give away this info for privacy or security reasons. Major browsers such as Google Chrome will ask you by default every time a website tries to locate you if you want to share your location, and you can select deny or don’t allow . Other browsers might not have this option and you want to disable geolocation completely. Or you’ve enabled location services previously and now want to disable them. Whatever your reason, you should know how to enable and disable geolocation on your internet browser when you want. Doing so gives you a bit more privacy and control over your experience surfing the web. Let’s look at how to toggle geolocation settings on six major browsers, both desktop, and mobile. To disable location in Chrome on desktop, follow these steps: To disable location in Chrome on iOS, follow these steps: To disable location in Chrome on Android, follow these steps: If you complete these steps, Chrome will no longer ask you if you want to allow access to your location; it will automatically deny websites access to your location. To re-enable location access, repeat these same steps but toggle location options on. To disable location sharing in Firefox on desktop, do the following: To disable location sharing in Firefox on Android, follow these steps: If you have a Samsung Android device, the process will look slightly different. Repeat steps 1 and 2 from the above list to navigate to your Settings . Then, tap Privacy. Under Data Choices , uncheck the box next to Mozilla Location Services . To disable location access for Microsoft Edge on Windows, complete these steps: If you want to disable location sharing in Edge on macOS, do the following: To turn off location sharing for Edge on Android, follow these steps: To turn off location sharing in your Safari browser on macOS, follow these steps: If you want to stop Safari from location sharing on iOS, do the following: Opera is a Chromium-based web browser known for being faster and more stable than other big players such as Chrome and Firefox. To turn off Opera location sharing on desktop, follow these steps: To stop Opera from sharing your location on Android, do the following: To disable location sharing on Internet Explorer (IE) on Windows, follow these steps: Click the Clear Sites button to remove location access to any sites that had access previously. Browsers like Chrome and Firefox work to ensure your privacy and security, though these features aren’t their sole focus. To surf the web with privacy-minded services, try one of the following browsers: Learning how to enable and disable location sharing on your browser can help you protect your privacy as you surf the web. Preventing websites from having your location may not allow you to see their most relevant content, but it keeps your physical location secret. Looking for more ways to protect your privacy online? Learn to hide your IP address to keep prying eyes from getting your data.