How To Enable Location Services on Mac

ByNikhil Agrawal

Here is our complete guide on how to enable location services on Mac [Apple MacBook, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, Mac Mini, iMac]. But before getting started, you must know that some Mac users may wish to disable Location Services on their Macs completely. This is not recommended for Mac owners, but turning off all Location Services on macOS can be desired for security and privacy concerns by some.

Disabling the geolocation and Location Services on the Mac is quite easy, but by doing so the mac will lose the ability to use important features like Find My Mac, and even simple tasks like using Apple Maps or any web-based map functionalities to get directions from your current location to elsewhere.

Accordingly, most Mac users should probably enable location services or selectively disable location features for the apps they don’t want to use location data. There are several apps in macOS that may want to use your location data, including apps like Maps, Apple Photos, and many more.

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If you’re looking to continue using specific location-based applications in macOS, you do have the option to enable location services on Mac.

How To Enable Location Services on Mac

Enabling Location Services on Mac is a simple, quick process. Here’s what you need to do:

  1. Click on the Apple logo on the menu bar and select System Preferences.
    How to Enable Location Services on Mac - Step 1
  2. Select Security & Privacy from the System Preferences Panel.
    How to Enable Location Services on Mac - Step 2
  3. In Security & Privacy, go to the Privacy tab.
    How to Enable Location Services on Mac - Step 3
  4. If the icon in the lower-left corner is locked, click it to authenticate with your admin login password (to unlock the Security pane).
    How to Enable Location Services on Mac - Step 4
  5. Check the box next to Enable Location Services to enable it.
    How to Enable Location Services on Mac - Step 5

That’s it. You are done enabling location services on your Mac.

Location Services Indicator

If an app on your Mac is currently using Location Services, an arrow indicator should be appearing in the menu bar. Simply click it to see which apps are using the Location Services. If an app has requested your location within the last 24 hours, an arrow indicator must be appearing to the right of the app name in System Preferences.

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