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How to turn off location on Apple Watch

The watch has its own Location Services switch at Settings › Privacy & Security › Location Services, and Apple says the privacy settings you change on the paired iPhone are applied to the watch as well. Sharing your location with people is a different switch again, and it belongs to your Apple Account rather than to the watch. Apple documents that when a cellular Apple Watch is sharing and the iPhone is not with you, Find My shows the location of the watch.

watchOS 27

The master switch

Turn off Location Services on the watch

inside the Settings app
Path
  1. Settings
  2. Privacy & Security
  3. Location Services
  4. Off

From the vendor’s own page · watchOS 27, the version named on Apple's Apple Watch User Guide, read 2026-09-17 · checked 2026-09-17 · source: Apple Personal Safety User Guide — Manage Location Services settings, Apple Support — Locate people in Find My on Apple Watch

Do they get told?Whether anyone is told that you turned Location Services off on the watch is not documented on Apple's page. What is documented is the effect on the watch: apps stop getting your position from Location Services, and Apple says location may still be used for emergency calls.
Who can still see you
Off
Apps on the watch
Watch apps stop getting your position from Location Services on the watch itself.
Still on
A cellular watch you are sharing from
Apple says that while you share, Find My shows a cellular Apple Watch's own location when the iPhone isn't with you.
Still visible
The network and emergency calls
Apple says your device's location may be used for emergency calls to aid response efforts regardless of this switch.

Turn it off from the paired iPhone

on the paired iPhone
Path
  1. Settings
  2. Privacy & Security
  3. Location Services
  4. Off

From the vendor’s own page · watchOS 27, the version named on Apple's Apple Watch User Guide, read 2026-09-17 · checked 2026-09-17 · source: Apple Support — View app settings and storage on Apple Watch, Apple Personal Safety User Guide — Manage Location Services settings

Who can still see you
Off
Apps on the iPhone and the watch
Apple lists Location Services among the privacy settings a change on the iPhone applies to the watch too.
Still on
Your location sharing in Find My
Share My Location is a separate switch that belongs to your Apple Account, and it stays as you left it.
Still visible
The network and emergency calls
Apple says your device's location may be used for emergency calls to aid response efforts regardless of this switch.

Apple names Location Services first in the list of privacy settings the watch shares with the iPhone.

One app at a time

Stop one app using your location

on the paired iPhone
Path
  1. Settings
  2. Privacy & Security
  3. Location Services
  4. the app
  5. Never

From the vendor’s own page · iOS 14 and later as named on Apple's page (dated 2026-01-14), with watchOS 27 on the watch, read 2026-09-17 · checked 2026-09-17 · source: Apple Support — Turn Location Services and GPS on or off on your iPhone, iPad, or iPod touch, Apple Support — View app settings and storage on Apple Watch

Who can still see you
Off
That one app
Apple's wording for the Never option is that it prevents access to Location Services information.
Still on
Every other app in the list
Each app has its own row in the Location Services list. Changing one row changes nothing else.
Still visible
The network and emergency calls
Apple says your device's location may be used for emergency calls to aid response efforts regardless of this switch.

Apple's Apple Watch User Guide prints no per-app Location Services list for the watch itself and says to make these privacy changes on the iPhone.

Sharing with people

Stop sharing your location with everyone

on the paired iPhone
Path
  1. Find My
  2. Me
  3. Share My Location
  4. Off

From the vendor’s own page · iOS 17 and later as named on Apple's page (published 2025-12-19), read 2026-09-17 · checked 2026-09-17 · source: Apple Support — Share your location with iPhone, Apple Personal Safety User Guide — Find My and location sharing

Do they get told?Apple says the person you stop sharing with won't be notified. Its Personal Safety guide adds that people you previously shared with may notice that you've stopped, and that on earlier operating systems they may receive a notification in Messages.
Who can still see you
Off
Everyone you were sharing with
The share ends for every person at once, from the watch and from every device on the same Apple Account.
Still on
Find My for your own devices
Locating your own Apple Watch in Find My is a separate switch and is not touched by this one.
Still visible
The network and emergency calls
A cellular watch still has a carrier connection, and Apple says location may be used for emergency calls regardless.

Apple's watchOS 27 guide prints how to start a share from Find My on the watch — People, then Share Location — but no step for ending one there.

Stop sharing with one person

on the paired iPhone
Path
  1. Find My
  2. People
  3. the person
  4. Stop Sharing My Location

From the vendor’s own page · iOS 17 and later as named on Apple's page (published 2025-12-19), read 2026-09-17 · checked 2026-09-17 · source: Apple Support — Share your location with iPhone

Do they get told?Apple says the person you stop sharing with won't be notified. Its Personal Safety guide adds that they may notice you've stopped, and that on earlier operating systems they may receive a notification in Messages.
Who can still see you
Off
That one person
You disappear from their Find My, Maps, Contacts and Messages. Everyone else you share with still sees you.
Still on
Everyone else you share with
Only one share changed. Share My Location stays on for every other person on the People list.
Still visible
The network and emergency calls
A cellular watch still has a carrier connection, and Apple says location may be used for emergency calls regardless.

Apple documents that the recipient receives a notification when you start a share from Find My on the watch; it documents no notification for ending one.

Turn it back on, or fix it

Turn Location Services back on

inside the Settings app
Path
  1. Settings
  2. Privacy & Security
  3. Location Services
  4. On

From the vendor’s own page · watchOS 27, the version named on Apple's Apple Watch User Guide, read 2026-09-17 · checked 2026-09-17 · source: Apple Personal Safety User Guide — Manage Location Services settings, Apple Support — View app settings and storage on Apple Watch

Who can still see you
Off
Apps you have not switched back on
The master switch does not switch any app back on. Each app keeps the setting you last gave it.
Still on
Apps already set to use your location
Anything still allowed can read your position again as soon as Location Services is on.
Still visible
The network and emergency calls
Apple says your device's location may be used for emergency calls to aid response efforts regardless of this switch.

The same setting can be changed on the paired iPhone: Apple says a change made there is applied to the watch.

Turn Find My back on for the watch

inside the Settings app
Path
  1. Settings
  2. your name
  3. the watch name
  4. Find My Watch
  5. On

From the vendor’s own page · watchOS 27, the version named on Apple's page, read 2026-09-17 · checked 2026-09-17 · source: Apple Support — Set up Find My on Apple Watch, Apple Support — Turn off Find My on your devices and items

Who can still see you
Off
Nothing on this screen turns off
Apple's only documented way to take the watch out of Find My is to unpair it from your iPhone.
Still on
Locating this watch in Find My
The watch reports to Find My again, and the Find My network switch below it decides whether offline devices help.
Still visible
The network and emergency calls
A cellular watch still has a carrier connection, and Apple says location may be used for emergency calls regardless.

Apple says a watch paired with your iPhone is set up in Find My automatically when you turn on Find My iPhone.

If someone is tracking you against your will, turning a setting off may not be the safest first step. Read this first.

Related

Where to go next

Question Does airplane mode turn off location? No. Airplane mode is a switch for radios: Apple's page says it "turns off all radios except for Bluetooth", and Google's says Wi-Fi and Bluetooth go off with it. Neither company's airplane-mode page mentions Location Services, GPS or location of any kind. App guide Find My Find My has one switch per person, a one-day pause per person, and one master switch for everyone; Messages, Maps and Contacts all reach the same share. Apple's sharing page says the person you stop sharing with is not notified. Apple's safety guide adds that they may notice you have stopped.