How to disable location reporting in Google Search for iPhone and iPad

How to disable location reporting in Google Search for iPhone and iPad | iMore.com Skip to main content Android BlackBerry iPhone / iPad Windows Phone webOS SIGN UP|LOG IN iMore Forums Apps Games Accessories Reviews How-To Podcasts Contests iPhone iPad mini iPad iPod touch Apple TV iOS iCloud iTunes Mac Hot: iPhone 5S Guides: iPhone buyers | iPad buyers | iOS users Free: Wallpaper | iPhone apps, games | iPad apps, games Shop Online Cases Chargers Screen protectors Headsets & More Free shipping on orders over $50 How to disable location reporting in Google Search for iPhone and iPad By Allyson Kazmucha, Tuesday, Apr 30, 2013 a 12:47 pm 17

If you snagged the update to Google Search yesterday, you're probably ecstatic that you now have some of the features Android users have been enjoying including Google Now capabilities. You may have also noticed that it likes to use location services like crazy. If that bothers you or you're worried about conserving some battery when you don't need Google Search polling your location, you can disable location reporting within the app.

Here's how:

Launch the Google Search app for iPhone or iPad. Tap on the Settings icon in the upper right hand corner. Now tap on Privacy.Scroll down and towards the bottom, turn Location Reporting to Off.

That's it. Google Search will now not report your location unless you want it to.

Allyson Kazmucha

How-to, jailbreak, and DIY Editor at iMore, owner at The Pod Drop & AnoStyle, Potter pundit, and the ninja in your iOS

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More of: Google Search, google now, location reporting ? PreviouslyBelkin ships Thunderbolt Express Dock Next up ?Time for those six second 'selfies' with latest Vine update There are 17 comments. Add yours. BrianTufo says: Apr 30, 2013 at 1:09 pm - 15 hours ago

Thank you!!!! I turned Now off due to location polling constantly. Now I can use it again.

Reply iSRS says: Apr 30, 2013 at 1:14 pm - 15 hours ago

Does this impact the usefulness?

Reply cardfan says: Apr 30, 2013 at 1:16 pm - 15 hours ago

How was it ever useful?

Reply NYC Dude says: Apr 30, 2013 at 1:31 pm - 15 hours ago

I don't know.... one would be it is ridiculously faster for search and better at understanding dictation than Siri.

As for Google Now some people want their info centered and brought to them in one place. I opted out of using Google Now myself because it's a little to deep into your information for my liking.

Reply cardfan says: Apr 30, 2013 at 1:33 pm - 15 hours ago

No, I meant what was in the update. The search app already had that and I'm not disagreeing..it is better than siri for search and understanding commands.

Reply crankerchick says: Apr 30, 2013 at 2:15 pm - 14 hours ago

What came in the update is rolling GoogleNow (previously unavailable on iOS) in the Google Search app. Now when you launch search, it presents cards as part of GoogleNow. These cards contain relevant information that you would normally search for or use an app to get the information from, and the cards are present when you open the app, so they are there before you ask for them. The types of cards include weather, game scores, movie information, package shipping information, traffic to frequently visited locations and recently searched locations and other useful items like that. There are a total of 22 cards types on GoogleNow for iOS (27 on Android). This article is talking about disabling the Location Reporting aspect of GoogleNow (different from the search app just being able to use your location when you launch the app) to gather your location data in the background and use for relevant cards.

Reply crankerchick says: Apr 30, 2013 at 1:23 pm - 15 hours ago

Yeah it does. Without your location, cards related to local weather, traffic to places, etc will be impacted. With location sharing turned off, the location services arrow goes away, and so does my card for traffic navigating to home. It hasn't come back.

All a trade off.

Reply SockRolid says: Apr 30, 2013 at 1:56 pm - 15 hours ago

Thanks Ally! I went to follow your instructions, then remembered that I never installed the Google Search app on any of my devices.

This is my ultra-simple how-to:
1. Go to the App Store.
2. Search for DuckDuckGo
3. Install DuckDuckGo
4. Use DuckDuckGo for all searching.

Very, very simple. Very, very effective.

Reply crankerchick says: Apr 30, 2013 at 2:17 pm - 14 hours ago

One thing to note, also, is that the location reporting is opt-in anyway. Well, GoogleNow is opt-in, so if you did have the GoogleSearch app installed, it wouldn't have been active and reporting your location until after you launch the app and opt-in to GoogleNow anyway.

This is probably something useful to have included in the article to begin with.

Reply maverick78 says: Apr 30, 2013 at 5:13 pm - 11 hours ago

You need to read the 'What's New' description dated 29/04/2013 for the Google Search app. It states that the GPS doesn't remain on as it uses passive signals from cell towers and wifi hot spots.

Reply Allyson Kazmucha says: Apr 30, 2013 at 5:47 pm - 11 hours ago

Myself and many users who experienced the geolocation icon would beg to differ, so would my battery life yesterday. Maybe it's a bug, who knows - either way, my battery drained a heck of a lot faster yesterday than it normally does and that's the only thing that changed that pulls location.

Reply mulasien says: Apr 30, 2013 at 5:52 pm - 11 hours ago

And I'd have to beg to differ with your differ begging :P. I have no battery impact with leaving it on the past couple days. We even have a thread on the iMore forums tracking if people have actually seen a battery difference or not. Under the Google subsection of the forum.

Reply Allyson Kazmucha says: Apr 30, 2013 at 6:02 pm - 10 hours ago

I see comments on both sides. It's something people were asking about, so we responded with how to turn it off. Just like crashes, some only affect "some users" - I may experience something you don't due to different variables. That's why a lot of notes on updates say "fixes so and so issue SOME users were experiencing, not all"

My geolocation symbol was consistent after installing Google Search, all the time. After I deleted it, it went away, reinstall, back. Battery drain. Disabling location reporting within the app fixed it for me.

You don't have the issue, doesn't mean others don't.

Reply maverick78 says: May 1, 2013 at 4:01 am - 55 min ago

That's fair comment Ally. In retrospect I've disabled Google Now as after running it for a 24 hour period I have notice a noticeable increase in battery power consumption.

Reply asuperstarr says: Apr 30, 2013 at 6:23 pm - 10 hours ago

Thanks for the tip, I have to turn this off immediately.

Reply Dev from tipb says: Apr 30, 2013 at 8:15 pm - 8 hours ago

On a slightly related note -- if the battery is not the problem for you, and you want to leave location reporting on for the services, but are simply not keen on Google keeping that data, you can delete the saved location information at your account's location history page. This is most easily accessed from the "Location History" link right above the "Location Reporting" Ally mentioned.

Deleting it will undoubtedly impact some of the predictive abilities of the service, but when using any service like this, people have to find their own level of comfort between convenience and privacy.

Reply bgl321 says: Apr 30, 2013 at 9:27 pm - 7 hours ago

Thank you!

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