How to disable GPS?

[watchintv]

I want to disable all GPS functionality for my Android phone. How would I do that?

Thanks!

 

[Dannydet]

Nope. Not gonna happen.
The Sim card from your carrier talks to the cell towers.
No Sim, no service.
You can turn off Google locations and app locations but that's about it.

 

[watchintv]

How accurate is cell phone tower pinging to actual GPS satellite pinging?

 

[Dannydet]

GPS is far more accurate. Cell tower triangulation will typically locate you to within a few blocks (depending on the number and spacing of towers). GPS can locate you to within a couple meters.

 

[watchintv]

GPS is far more accurate. Cell tower triangulation will typically locate you to within a few blocks (depending on the number and spacing of towers). GPS can locate you to within a couple meters.

So is there no way to disable GPS functionality?

 

[Dannydet]

GPS location can be turned off in your device settings and your Google app / account.
Keep in mind that most banking apps use your location and cannot be turned off

 

[watchintv]

GPS location can be turned off in your device settings and your Google app / account.
Keep in mind that most banking apps use your location and cannot be turned off

Ok, thanks. Could you let me know how to disable the GPS functionality specifically? Like, where in my device settings and Google account?

 

[Dannydet]

Open the Google app, manage account, type in activity in the search, and turn off location and location sharing.

 

[Dannydet]

Also go to device settings, location, and toggle to off

 

[codesplice]

Is your objective to disable only the location data obtained from the GPS satellites? Or are you wanting to disable all location services on your phone?

On modern Android versions, there's not really a way to disable just the GPS data source. The system uses a fused location service which combines location data from all available sources and provides that data to apps when they ask for it.

On a Pixel phone, you can go to Settings > Location and disable the Use Location toggle. That will prevent any apps from obtaining information about your location (based on GPS, nearby Wi-Fi networks, cellular triangulation, and any other potential sources of location data).

Navigating to Settings > Location > App location permissions allows you to review which apps have access to your location data, and drilling down into each app will let you toggle the Use precise location option on/off. With it disabled, the system itself will still have access to precise location data courtesy of GPS, but the app will only be provided with coarse/approximate location data (like what could be expected from cellular triangulation).

Of course, different phones from different manufacturers may have different options.


And I hope it goes without saying that none of these steps would prevent a cellular service provider from triangulating your device's location based on the towers it's connected to and the relative signal strength of each. There's nothing you can do to prevent that from happening.