While browsing location-specific content like YouTube, social media sites, etc., you may have noticed a message saying ‘Your Location Is Currently In Use’. Confused about what this means? Here I will discuss how to configure location tracking and what to do when Your Location Is Currently In Use message pops up.
Windows 10 Location Tracking!
Usually, when you see this message, it means that your location is being tracked. Your location is a very important feature that can be used to provide you a variety of services like maps, social media, news, fitness tracking, weather, etc.
The use of location to access services come at a cost of privacy, as many applications have continued access to your location which can be then used to their benefit e.g. providing advertisements.
Privacy Settings In Windows 10
In Windows 10, Microsoft has completely reworked how the location history is used and now more safety is ensured as users gain more control over their privacy settings.
If you are concerned about your privacy, here is how you can investigate your location settings:
- Click on the action center icon in the taskbar.
- Click on Expand if you keep the action center collapsed.
- Here, look for
- Right-click and select Settings to open the Location Privacy settings.
Here you will see all the privacy options housed together for you to investigate and change them according to how you see fit.
Disable Location In Windows 10
Windows 10 lets you control the location services for your system on two different levels, individually and globally.
What this means is that each and every user can set their personal location services according to how they see fit. Secondly, the administrator can now change the location services for the entire system and all its users.
To adjust the location services globally,
- Open Location Privacy settings as mentioned above.
- Here you will see two options at the top.
- To change the global location settings, click on the Change button below Location for this device is on. Now turn the toggle next to Location for this device to ‘Off’ in the next window.
- To change individual location settings, click on the ‘On’ toggle button below Location.
If you decide to leave the Location services to On (which is recommended actually), here are some other things you need to know about.
Location History; Windows 10 Location Services
When you grant location access to your Windows applications, the location data of your device is stored for a while on your device. This is done for the apps and services that rely on the Location history to function optimally.
You can clear history from time to time in order to prevent malicious apps from stealing that data. To clear history, simply click the Clear button below the Clear location history on this device.
Applications With Access To Your Location
Below the Location history, you will find the applications that are using the precise location of your device. Here you can monitor which apps have access to your location, and you can turn off the access to individual apps.
Simply click on the toggle next to each app that has location access to turn it off.
You may notice here that there are no browsers except Edge listed here. It is because they have their own privacy settings that can be configured in order to grant or deny Location access to them.
→ In Google Chrome
In Google Chrome, you can block some websites from accessing your location. Head over to the following URL to access the location settings:
chrome://settings/content/location
Here, you can block Chrome from using location by turning the location toggle button ‘Off’.
In Mozilla Firefox
In Firefox, you need to change the settings as well to modify the location access. Type the following in the address bar to access Privacy settings:
Here, scroll and locate Permissions.
Next to Location, click on the Settings button to modify location access for the websites.
Geofencing
Finally, you will see geofencing and the applications that are using geofencing. This feature uses GPS or local radio frequency identifiers (e.g. Wi-Fi nodes and Bluetooth beacons) to create virtual boundaries (called Geofence) around a location, and then this geofence is used to interact with applications according to the parameters set by the application.
If any application uses geofencing, you can see that listed under the heading, and turn it off from there.
Wrapping Up
Location is probably one of the most important privacy concerned one can be worried about. Microsoft has worked extensively to hand in more control to the users, and you can change the settings to however you like using the guide above. The next time you see ‘Your Location Is Currently In Use’ message, you now know exactly how to configure the location settings to how you like, and how to turn off location on computer. Do comment below if you have some queries regarding the location and privacy settings, and want to discuss further the same.
