How to Disable or Enable Location Services in Google Chrome
Enabling location services in Google Chrome allows you to share your location data with trusted websites. While this information is useful for online shopping, finding nearby places, or checking the weather, the constant tracking of your location by websites can be unsettling. Therefore, you may want to know how to disable or enable location services in Google Chrome. In this post, we will show you how to do so on both PC and mobile devices. Plus, stay till the end for a bonus tip.
Disable or Enable Location in Chrome for Windows or macOS
Chrome for PC has a user-friendly interface. Managing location permissions in Chrome on Windows or Mac is easy. Here’s how:
Step 1: Open Google Chrome on your PC and click the three-dot menu icon in the top right corner to open Settings.
Step 2: Switch to the Privacy and security tab in the left pane.
Step 3: Go to Site settings.
Step 4: Scroll down to the Permissions section and click on Location.
Step 5: Under Default behavior, select ‘Don’t allow sites to see your location.’
If you’ve allowed websites to track your location, find them under the ‘Allowed to see your location’ section. Click the trash icon to remove a website’s location permission.
You can allow sites to track your location by following the steps above and selecting the ‘Sites can ask for your location’ option in Step 5.
Disable or Enable Location in Chrome for Android
Android allows you to manage location permissions for each app individually. In addition, Chrome for Android provides the option to enable or disable location services within the app. To access this feature, follow these steps:
1. Open Google Chrome on your Android device. Tap the three-dot menu icon located in the top right corner, then select Settings.
Step 2: Under Advanced, tap on Site settings.
Step 3: Disable location services in the settings.
If you’ve allowed sites to access your location, they’ll be listed under Exceptions. To prevent a website from accessing your location, tap on its URL and select Remove.
Disable or Enable Location in Chrome for iOS
Unlike Android, Chrome for iOS does not have an option to manage location permissions within the app. To disable or enable location permissions for Chrome on your iPhone, you will need to use the Settings app. Here’s how:
1. Launch the Settings app on your iPhone. Scroll down and tap on Chrome.
Step 2: Go to Location and change the location access to Never.
That’s it. Chrome won’t track your location anymore. If you want to allow location permissions for specific websites, follow the method above and change the location access to ‘Ask Next Time or When I Share’ or ‘While Using the App’ as shown in Step 2.
How to Change Your Location Manually in Google Chrome
Google Chrome relies on the HTML5 Geolocation API to detect your location. However, you can manually change your location using Developer tools in Chrome. This can be useful if Chrome has trouble calculating your exact location or if you want to fake your location.
To change your location manually in Chrome, follow these steps:
1. Open Google Chrome on your PC.
2. Click the three-dot menu icon in the top right corner and go to More tools.
3. Select Developer tools from the sub-menu.
Alternatively, you can press Ctrl + Shift + I on Windows or Cmd + Option + I on macOS to access the Developer console in Chrome. Step 2: In the Developer menu, click the three-dot menu icon in the top right corner, go to More tools, and select Sensors.
Step 3: A Sensors tab will appear in the bottom section. Use the drop-down menu next to Location to select one of the available cities.
Alternatively, you can select Other and manually enter location coordinates in the Latitude and Longitude fields.
Refresh the webpage to update your location. Don’t worry, this change is not permanent. The custom location goes away when you close the browser window.
Location Management
Unlike phone apps, you visit many websites daily. Not every website requests your location, but it’s important to know how to enable and disable location services in Chrome. Follow the steps above to easily manage location settings in Chrome.
As Fred Humiston, the author behind Twothirds.us, I focus on providing practical and easy-to-follow guides and solutions for a variety of technical issues that people commonly face.
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