How to stop seeing all location pop-ups in Safari on Mac and iOS

Learn how to stop location-related popups from appearing when you visit websites in Safari on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac.

When you visit a website that can provide relevant results based on your location data, you’ll see a prompt asking, “Website would like to use your current location.”

These alerts are important because they let you decide whether to allow or block a site from accessing your location. However, they can also be intrusive. and downright annoying. If you never allow websites to access your location due to privacy concerns or personal preferences, here are all the ways to stop these prompts. Keep in mind, though, that blocking location access for certain sites may impact their functionality.

If you don’t want location alerts from a specific website

You have three options: block a website from using your location once, block it for the rest of the day, or restrict it forever.

1. Start by blocking a website from asking your location

The first and most obvious thing you can do is tap “Don’t Allow” on the location popup. After this, the website in question will block pop-ups asking for location permission until you refresh the page or start a new session.

2. Have Safari remember your preference for one day

If you don’t want to have a website ask you for location permission again for the rest of the day, check the box for “Remember my decision for one day” and then hit “Don’t Allow.” This ensures the website won’t show the location popup even if you refresh the page or start a new browsing session. Note that this is only available in Safari on Mac.

3. Deny a website from ever asking your permission

Some websites don’t provide meaningful benefits even after accessing your location and may instead use your data for tracking or serving local ads. In such cases, you can block that website from requesting or using your location through Safari settings.

Start by tapping “Don’t Allow” on the location popup in Safari. Next, navigate to Safari’s Location settings and deny the website access to your location. This will ensure Safari no longer shows location permission alerts for that website.

• On iOS: Go to Settings > Apps > Safari > Location, and deny a website from using your location.
• On macOS: Open Safari and click Safari > Settings from the top menu bar, followed by Websites > Location. Click the drop-down menu next to a website and select Deny.

Stop all location popups in Safari

Your options are to instruct Safari to never show the location permission alert, block the entire browser from using your location, or turn off all location services on your device (not recommended; more on this later).

1. Block all websites from asking your permission

Safari, on both iOS and macOS, has a master switch to stop all websites from showing the location alert.

• On iOS: Head to Settings > Apps > Safari > Location and select Deny under the “Location Access On All Websites” heading.

• On macOS: Open Safari and click Safari > Settings. Now, go to Websites and select Location. Then, hit the drop-down menu for “When visiting other websites” and set it to Deny.

Going forward, you won’t see location popups in Safari any longer.

2. Restrict the entire Safari browser from accessing your location

This option is ideal if you use Safari as a secondary browser and don’t rely on it for Google Maps, local weather, or other important location-related websites.

• On iOS: Navigate to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services on your iPhone or iPad. Now, select Safari Websites from the list of apps and set its location access permission to Never.

• On macOS: Go to Mac’s System Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services, and turn off the switch for Safari.

Note that if you block the Safari app from accessing your location, you might still see an alert informing you that location services are disabled. To avoid such notifications entirely, consider using the previous method instead.

3. Turn off system-wide location services

Lastly, iOS and macOS let you disable all location services on your device. However, this affects all apps requiring location access, like Uber, Weather, Google Maps, and Apple Maps. It also impacts system services such as Find My Device, location-based automation, and geo-suggestions.

So, unless you know what you’re doing, we don’t recommend turning off all location services. But if you understand the consequences and still want to proceed, you can go to location settings on iOS, iPadOS, or macOS and turn off the main Location Services switch.

A few important points to keep in mind

• Turning off location doesn’t necessarily mean the website or your device can’t know your general whereabouts. They can still use your Wi-Fi, IP address, cellular signal, GPS, and other factors to get a rough idea of where you’re. However, your precise location should be a secret.
• Your Safari browser preferences are erased if you clear all website data and start fresh.
• If you ever need to use location services on your iPhone, iPad, or Mac, head back to Safari settings or the main location settings screen and enable them again.

More on Safari:

• Top 24 tips to make the most of Safari on your iPhone
• 11 tips to personalize Safari on your iPhone
• How to automatically clear all your web history when you exit a browser on Mac

Source link: https://www.idownloadblog.com/2025/03/24/turn-off-location-popups-in-safari/