Earlier today I was playing around with System Services under Settings > Privacy > Location Services and thought to myself, "Why not just re-enable everything (aside from 'Product Improvement'/analytics)?" I previously had quite a few of them turned off, but I've heard from several users here that they keep them all on all the time without issue.
The only thing was that I was using cellular data at the time and noticed after re-enabling the defaults that my connection slowed to a crawl. Upon further testing I seemed to have found the culprit: Networking & Wireless. I have always, or at least since its introduction (with iOS 13 I think?), found this setting particularly interesting, because even though Apple does its best to keep users from disabling it with its pop-up warning about alleged potential impact to wi-fi/bluetooth/ultra-wideband performance there is little perceptible difference (in my experience) with it turned off. There is a caveat, though, which is that I do not own/use AirTags. I do have second-generation AirPods Pro but if I ever need to use precision finding I can just re-enable the service in Settings.
But the proof was in the pudding: Connection responsiveness and Safari page-load times were just far better with Networking & Wireless off.
So, in the end, I went back to how I had System Services set previously, with Device Management, Cell Network Search, Wireless & Networking, HomeKit, Apple Pay Merchant Identification, Sharing.framework, Location-Based Suggestions, Significant Locations, and everything under "Product Improvement" turned off (pardon the Spanish):
So, my question to the MacRumors community is: Do you leave System Location Services as-is or do you tailor them to your needs? If you have changed any of them, do you notice any difference in networking performance or in battery life? Has anyone had any experiences akin to mine regarding Networking & Wireless, or am I simply imagining things?
I'd love to hear your thoughts!
The only thing was that I was using cellular data at the time and noticed after re-enabling the defaults that my connection slowed to a crawl. Upon further testing I seemed to have found the culprit: Networking & Wireless. I have always, or at least since its introduction (with iOS 13 I think?), found this setting particularly interesting, because even though Apple does its best to keep users from disabling it with its pop-up warning about alleged potential impact to wi-fi/bluetooth/ultra-wideband performance there is little perceptible difference (in my experience) with it turned off. There is a caveat, though, which is that I do not own/use AirTags. I do have second-generation AirPods Pro but if I ever need to use precision finding I can just re-enable the service in Settings.
But the proof was in the pudding: Connection responsiveness and Safari page-load times were just far better with Networking & Wireless off.
So, in the end, I went back to how I had System Services set previously, with Device Management, Cell Network Search, Wireless & Networking, HomeKit, Apple Pay Merchant Identification, Sharing.framework, Location-Based Suggestions, Significant Locations, and everything under "Product Improvement" turned off (pardon the Spanish):
So, my question to the MacRumors community is: Do you leave System Location Services as-is or do you tailor them to your needs? If you have changed any of them, do you notice any difference in networking performance or in battery life? Has anyone had any experiences akin to mine regarding Networking & Wireless, or am I simply imagining things?
I'd love to hear your thoughts!
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