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Manage your Pixel phone’s location settings

You can use location-based services such as local search results, commute predictions, and nearby restaurants based on your device's location, when device location is on in settings.

Understand the location settings available on your device

Important: When the location setting is off for your device, apps and services can't get your device's location. You can still get local results and ads based on your IP address.

Google has location-based services, including:

Tip: Apps have their own permission settings. Learn how to manage app location settings.

Turn location on or off for your device

  1. Open your phone’s Settings app.
  2. Tap Location. If you have a work profile, tap Advanced.
  3. At the top, turn Use location on or off.

Tip: You can also turn your phone’s location on or off with Quick Settings. Learn about Quick Settings.

When Location is on
When Location is off

Help your device get a more accurate location (Location Accuracy, also known as Google Location Services)

Turn your device's location accuracy on or off

  1. Open your device’s Settings app.
  2. Tap Location And then Location services And then Google Location Accuracy.
  3. Turn Improve Location Accuracy on or off.
When Location Accuracy is on

When Location Accuracy is on, your device uses these sources to get the most accurate location, which may include elevation or floor level:

  • Wireless signals (such as GPS, Wi-Fi, or mobile cellular networks)
  • Sensors (such as accelerometer, barometer, or gyroscope)

This can be especially important if you’re using your device indoors or when GPS satellites are obscured, because in those situations devices need to use additional signals to be able to estimate their location.  Apps and services with the appropriate permissions can use this location to provide you with location-based features.

When Location Accuracy is off

When Location Accuracy is off, only GPS and device sensors, such as accelerometer, barometer, and gyroscope, will be used to determine your device’s location, which may impact the availability and accuracy of locations for apps and services such as Google Maps and finding a lost device.

When Location Accuracy is off, wireless signals and sensor data are not collected by the Location Accuracy service. However, emergency location services or your mobile carrier can still automatically send your device’s location enhanced by Location Accuracy to emergency responders when you call or text an emergency number.

Tip: No location or Location Accuracy data is collected by Google in such a scenario. Learn about emergency location services.

Set up Wi-Fi & Bluetooth scanning

To help apps get better location info, you can let your phone scan for nearby Wi-Fi access points or Bluetooth devices.

  1. Open your device's Settings app.
  2. Tap Location And then Location services.
    • Wi-Fi scanning: Tap Wi-Fi scanning. Then, turn Wi-Fi scanning on or off.
    • Bluetooth: Tap Bluetooth scanning. Then, turn Bluetooth scanning on or off.

Send your location in an emergency

To help responders find you quickly, your phone's location can be sent when you dial or text an emergency number, like when you dial 911 in the US or 112 in Europe.

If Android Emergency Location Service (ELS) works in your country or region and on your mobile network, and you haven't turned ELS off, your phone will automatically send its location to first responders through ELS. If ELS is off, your mobile carrier might still send the device's location during an emergency call or text.

Turn emergency location service on or off

  1. Open your phone's Settings app.
  2. Tap Location And then Location services And then Emergency Location Service. 
  3. Turn Use Emergency Location Service on or off.

How Emergency Location Service works

ELS is only activated when you call or text a local emergency number.

During your emergency call, ELS may use Google Location Accuracy and other information to get the most accurate location possible for the device. If your device’s WiFi setting is off, ELS may turn it on.

Your phone sends its location to authorized emergency partners for the purpose of helping emergency services locate you. Your location is sent directly from your phone to emergency partners.

After a completed emergency call or text during which ELS was active, your phone may send de-identified usage and analytics data to Google for the purpose of analyzing how well ELS works. This information doesn’t include the location sent to authorized emergency partners, and doesn't identify you.

Tip: When ELS sends your location to authorized emergency partners, it’s different from when you share location via Google Maps. Learn about Location Sharing with Google Maps.
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