iOS 18.4 adds a new optional toggle to improve iPhone location accuracy; it’s on by default, but you can safely turn it off
iOS 18.4 and iPadOS 18.4 bring a new Improve Location Accuracy toggle that helps your iPhone or iPad resolve a precise location more quickly.
Two iOS developers and occasional security researchers who go under the handle Mysk spotted a new setting in the iOS location services following the 18.4 update, released on April 1, 2025. It appears to be related to Assisted GPS (also known as A-GPS or aGPS). This technique augments the native GPS positioning via satellites by other methods that speed up the computation of the location fix, including a crowdsourced list of known nearby Wi-Fi networks and cell towers.
Go to Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services > System Services and scroll down to the “Product Improvements” section. You’ll find the “Improve Location Accuracy” switch there, turned on by default.
What is the Improve Location Accuracy privacy toggle?
“This option appears to enhance the Assisted GPS network by providing more precise GPS coordinates of nearby Wi-Fi networks and cell towers,” Mysk writes. Apple and Google leverage this database in areas where the GPS signal is weak. Since this is a crowdsourced database, every iPhone with this setting turned on contributes to this feature, thus helping improve the GPS accuracy of other users.
“Your iPhone will periodically send the geo-tagged locations of nearby Wi-Fi hotspots and mobile phone masts (where supported by a device) in an anonymous and encrypted form to Apple, to be used for augmenting this crowdsourced database of Wi-Fi hotspot and mobile phone mast locations,” as per Apple.
Such data is sent anonymously and in an encrypted form. But if you’re concerned about privacy risks, you can turn off this switch without losing location features.
“Turning off Improve Location Accuracy does not mean your device cannot benefit from the crowdsourced database, explains Benjamin Mayo at 9to5Mac. “Rather, it seems to provide a way for you to opt out of participating in it.” You’ll even save a tiny percent of battery power by turning this setting off.
iOS 18 doesn’t pack any location-related tweaks worth mentioning, except for iOS 18.2, which brought the abiliy to share AirTag location in the Find My app with up to five people or your airline to help locate your lost baggage.
Source link: https://www.idownloadblog.com/2025/04/02/apple-ios-18-4-iphone-improve-location-accuracy-toggle/
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