Social media services all too often ask for your location. Sometimes it is useful, for example because recommendations can be made based on where you are. Here's how to disable this option on Facebook if you don't want the service to access your location history.
If Facebook knows your location, you can check in in several places, read reviews and get recommendations. That's handy, but not everyone likes the fact that Facebook and other people can see where they are (or have been). Fortunately, you can prevent Facebook from accessing your location.
Turn off location completely
You can of course disable location services on your device entirely, so that Facebook can't see where you are. However, this also means that no other app can access it, so that you cannot, for example, use directions and the like in other apps.
On your iPhone, your location history is under Settings > Privacy > Location Services > System > Frequented Locations. You can dispose of this history by clicking Clear history to push. You can Frequently visited locations turn it off completely here as well.
On your Android device you can turn off your location under Security & Location > Location. Here you can also see which apps have recently requested your location. If you disable the function, no app will be able to access your location, including Facebook.
Turn off location on Facebook
In many cases, however, it is better to separately block Facebook access to your location history. This ensures that Facebook can no longer access the stored location data on your device, and that Facebook itself can no longer store location data. Other apps will still be able to use the location services and location history on your device.
Open the Facebook app and go to the settings by pressing the hamburger menu. Navigate to Settings > Account Settings and choose Location.
Here you can choose the option Location history turn it off, as well as set location sharing for Friends nearby and other location-based features, such as Tips for places and Find Wi-Fi. These options apply to the Facebook app on both Android and iOS.
If you disable location services for Facebook entirely, you will also no longer be able to check in or associate locations with your timeline posts.
Would you rather deactivate Facebook or just delete it completely? Here you can read how to do that.
