Privacy Tool
Every time you tap "Allow Location", an app receives data. But how much? That depends entirely on which level you grant.
See how precise location tracking can be from country-level to street-level
🔒 Your location is never stored or sent to our servers. The demo uses London. If you choose "Use my location", your coordinates stay in your browser only.
How to use this tool
The demo uses London so you can explore without sharing your real position.
Drag to change permission level
From least to most invasive
United Kingdom
Apps know your country and continent. This is the same level that IP addresses typically reveal — it tells an app almost nothing beyond what it already knows.
💡 Most apps work fine at this level for currency, language, and legal compliance.
Greater London
Apps narrow you to a region or metro area. This starts to tell them your timezone, local market, and which advertisers are relevant to your area.
💡 Weather apps and news apps genuinely need this level and nothing more.
London, Tower Hamlets
Apps know your city and inner area. Combined with timestamps, this builds a pattern of which neighbourhoods you frequent — valuable for profiling even without more precision.
💡 Food delivery apps work at city level. They do not need your street until you order.
Brick Lane area, E1
Apps can pinpoint your street. This is enough to infer your home address, workplace, and which shops, cafes, or clinics you visit. This data is sold to data brokers.
💡 Question any app that asks for this level. Maps and navigation apps may need it — most others do not.
51.5126°N, 0.0660°W
Apps receive GPS coordinates precise enough to place you inside a specific building or room. This is the most invasive level — it is used for stalking, targeted advertising, and insurance profiling.
💡 On iOS and Android you can grant "approximate location" instead of "precise" — use it by default.
Most apps ask for location because it improves their advertising revenue, not because they need it to function.
Mostly, but not completely. Approximate location (level 2) limits precision to a few kilometres — enough to prevent pinpointing your home, but still enough to track which neighbourhoods you visit over time.
A tracker recording your approximate location every hour can infer your home address within a few weeks by noting where you spend evenings and nights.
Approximate location is still specific enough to sell to local advertisers and to power targeted ads by postcode or area.
If the same approximate location appears consistently at night, it is your home — even without precise coordinates.
The real protection is granting location only while using the app, not in the background.
💡 Bottom line: Approximate location is meaningfully better than precise, but it is not a complete solution. The most important setting is "Only while using" — it prevents background tracking entirely.