Key Points
- New feature limits location precision shared with cell carriers. Available on iPhone Air, iPhone 16e, and M5 iPad Pro.
- Protects users from tracking by police, spies, and hackers.
- Does not affect emergency services or map applications.
- Currently limited to select carriers like Boost Mobile and EE.
Apple just handed privacy advocates a major win with a new feature that keeps your exact location secret from your cell phone provider. Rolling out this week on select newer devices, the tool allows users to limit how much location detail their iPhone or iPad shares with the network. Instead of pinpointing your exact street address, the carrier will only see your general neighborhood.
This update is a big deal for anyone worried about surveillance. Law enforcement agencies, spies, and malicious hackers often go directly to phone companies to track people because that data has historically been easy to get.
By blurring this information at the device level, Apple is making it much harder for anyone to build a detailed history of your movements based on carrier logs.
According to the company, the feature works on the new iPhone Air, iPhone 16e, and the M5 iPad Pro running iOS 26.3. Currently, it is only available on specific networks, such as Boost Mobile in the U.S., EE and BT in the U.K., and Telekom in Germany.
Importantly, turning this on won’t ruin your navigation apps or stop emergency responders from finding you during a 911 call.
Apple stayed quiet on the specific motivation behind the release, but the timing is significant. Over the last year, major U.S. carriers like AT&T and Verizon suffered breaches by China-backed hackers known as “Salt Typhoon.” These intruders stole call logs and messages belonging to senior American officials.
Security experts are praising the move. Gary Miller, a mobile security researcher, noted that while most people know to lock down GPS permissions for apps like Facebook or Google Maps, they often forget that their cell service provider is tracking them, too. Miller called the feature a step in the right direction.
By cutting off the flow of precise coordinates to the network, Apple is closing a loophole that surveillance vendors have exploited for years.
