Allow or Deny Access to Your Physical Location Settings

Geolocation is the process of determining a device's location using a combination of digital information. Websites and web applications can access the Geolocation API that's implemented in most popular browsers to learn your whereabouts. This information is then used for a variety of reasons, such as providing targeted content specific to your neighborhood or general area.

While it's sometimes nice to receive news, ads, and other items relevant to your particular locale, some web surfers are not comfortable with apps and pages that employ this data to customize their online experience. Keeping this in mind, browsers give you the opportunity to control location-based settings accordingly. The tutorials below detail how to use and modify this functionality in several different popular browsers.

Google Chrome

Google Chrome is one of the most popular browsers available, Here's how to disable its geolocation services:

1. Select Chrome's Main Menu button, marked by three vertically aligned dots. It's located in the upper right corner of the browser.

2. Select Settings.

3. Scroll down and click Site Settings.

4. Under Permissions, select Location.

5. Move the Ask before accessing (recommended) slider to toggle it on or off. Turn it on if you want websites to request your permission before accessing your location.

6. Below that, you can see the Block section and the Allow section. Here, you can see which websites you've given geolocation permissions to and revoke them, if needed.

Mozilla Firefox

Location-aware browsing in Firefox asks for your permission when a website attempts to access your location data. Take the following steps to disable this feature altogether.

1. Select the Menu button.

2. Choose Preferences.

3. Click Privacy & Security.

4. Scroll down to Permissions and select Settings next to Location.

5. This opens the Settings - Location Permissions dialog box. From here, you can see which websites have requested access to your location and choose to allow or block them.

Microsoft Edge

Here's how to tweak which websites can access your location using Microsoft's latest browser.

1. Select the Settings and more button (depicted as three horizontal dots) in the upper right corner of the screen.

2. Select Settings.

3. Click Site Permissions on the left side of the screen.

4. Select Location.

5. Move the Ask before accessing (recommended) slider to toggle it on or off. Turn it on if you want websites to request your permission before accessing your location.

6. In the Block section and the Allow sections, you can see which websites you've given geolocation permissions to and revoke them, if needed.

Opera

Opera uses Google Location Services to track your whereabouts. The first time you go to a website using the browser, it asks you to accept GLS' terms and conditions. After that, Opera will give you the choice of sending your location data, or not, whenever a website requests that information. But, if you want to disable it completely, go to Settings (Preferences on Mac) > Websites > Location and uncheck Allow websites to request my physical location.

Safari for Macs

Safari is the default web browser that ships with all Mac computers. To access or deny access to your physical location in Safari:

1. Click the System Preferences option under the Apple menu or in the Dock.

2. Select Security & Privacy.

3. Click the Privacy tab and select Location Services from the left pane.

4. Click the lock icon to make the settings changeable, and enter your admin password if you receive a prompt.

5. Enable or disable location services by placing (or removing) a check in front of Enable Location Services.

6. Place a check in the box in front of Safari to enable location services for the browser. Remove the checkmark to prevent Safari from sharing your location.

Vivaldi

Vivaldi is a free cross-platform web browser that launched in 2016. It's the most customizable of the popular web browsers.

1. Click the Settings gear in the lower-left corner of the screen.

2. Select Webpages on the left.

3. Under Default Permissions, open the menu next to Geolocation. You have three options:

   • Allow: Every site you navigate to can see your location.
   • Ask: Vivaldi will ask you before giving location permission to a site.
   • Block: No sites can see your location.