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Safari's Google Search keeps asking for my location?

Floris

Floris

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Sep 7, 2007
2,382
1,478
Netherlands
Since iOS 10 my iPhone 6s+'s Safari keeps asking me on every google search if it is ok to use my location. Regardless what options I set in Google, in Safari, in the Settings page, whether I am on 4G or Wifi, or using a VPN or not, .. multiple times per day when I just open up Safari and type in something to search online for it pops up before showing the search results. It's not happening on 10.0 or 10.1 on the iPad, and once selected I can't reproduce it until I force quit safari and leave it alone for a bit and then need it again for a new search.

I've search around and followed some instructions, tried a bunch of stuff, but you guys are probably a lot smarter than me on this and I am getting frustrated. Can you help me walk through some basic things to check?

I am from the Netherlands, it keeps going to google.nl, even if I set it everywhere to use Google.com, i honestly dont' care about Dutch search results anyway. But regardless which nl/com/etc I use, try, or auto set, or force set, or reset .. it just asks ' soooo you wanna let us use your location? '...

Any single or thousands steps to try, im willing to give it a go at this point, frustration is high enough at this point
 
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So this is all even when under Location Services Safari is set to Never?
 
C DM said:
So this is all even when under Location Services Safari is set to Never?
Click to expand...
Well you might not want to do that if you use web apps.
Google wants your location primarily for maps, but also for targeted advertising.
 
ashindnile said:
Well you might not want to do that if you use web apps.
Google wants your location primarily for maps, but also for targeted advertising.
Click to expand...
Well depends on what one uses basically. But it's still a worthwhile question to ask in the context of this issue.
 
C DM said:
So this is all even when under Location Services Safari is set to Never?
Click to expand...
I will double check and set it as such for the next 24 hours and see if it also happens.
[edit] I switch it back/forth, but it was already set to Never. Will still test.
 
happened since ios 9 if I remember correctly. Turning off location service for safari does it
 
I suspect this is a change by Google as much as its an iOS thing. I tend to get it when you search for something that can provide map information at the top of the search results.
 
You would need to change to Bing or DuckDuck Go (or Yahoo????) since Google wants (actually NEEDS) this info for ad targeting (or revenue ).
 
Out of interest i did a search for something that wouldnt bring back any sort of address type info for the map results etc you get at the top of a search results page sometimes and wasnt asked for location access.
 
Julien said:
You would need to change to Bing or DuckDuck Go (or Yahoo????) since Google wants (actually NEEDS) this info for ad targeting (or revenue ).
Click to expand...
Seems to still work just fine with location services disabled after all these years.
 
Add my voice to the mix as well. I'm having the same issue. It is a bit annoying when all you want to do is simply get on with your search results and not have to click something else. While Google does want/need the info for targeted ads...a lot of us have ad blockers installed. Sooo I'm wondering if perhaps one of our installed ad blockers are causing the "issue"?
 
Swampbaby985 said:
Add my voice to the mix as well. I'm having the same issue. It is a bit annoying when all you want to do is simply get on with your search results and not have to click something else. While Google does want/need the info for targeted ads...a lot of us have ad blockers installed. Sooo I'm wondering if perhaps one of our installed ad blockers are causing the "issue"?
Click to expand...

I wondered the same thing (as the issue seemed to roughly coincide with introduction of content blockers), but don't know enough to evaluate.

Like others here, I have no problem with Google using my location when I search -- in fact I want it to do so -- I just don't need it to ask every time. The choice should "stick," as I'm already signed into my Google acct.
 
mildocjr said:
Normally I would agree with you, but for this, having an option on a per page basis is nice, especially when it saves you from loading a few pages to set your location.
Click to expand...
At the same time if someone is worried about Google using location to help with more relevant search results seems like disabling location services for a browser so that no random web site could use location would be a fairly rational approach to it all.
 
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mildocjr said:
Google really wants to know where you are at all times. Apple's just protecting you from them. Try using DuckDuckGo.
Click to expand...

Google has to know where I am to deliver location-specific search results. This is how the service -- or any location-based search service -- works.
 
C DM said:
At the same time if someone is worried about Google using location to help with more relevant search results seems like disabling location services for a browser so that no random web site could use location would be a fairly rational approach to it all.
Click to expand...

But in order to turn it on you have to get out of safari go into settings change it go back into safari reload the page, do what you need to do, go back into settings and turn off location services each time. Going my way prevents this from happening and although he will still be prompted when he goes to websites there isn't a need to fight with it when he performs a search.

To add to this, even with location services off, the website will still ask and redirect to settings, or at least that is the expected behavior based on past experiences with Apps. I'm suggesting that the search engine change so there isn't as much of a battle using the Internet.
 
mildocjr said:
But in order to turn it on you have to get out of safari go into settings change it go back into safari reload the page, do what you need to do, go back into settings and turn off location services each time. Going my way prevents this from happening and although he will still be prompted when he goes to websites there isn't a need to fight with it when he performs a search.

To add to this, even with location services off, the website will still ask and redirect to settings, or at least that is the expected behavior based on past experiences with Apps. I'm suggesting that the search engine change so there isn't as much of a battle using the Internet.
Click to expand...
With it all set to never I've never had Safari ask about it (unlike some other apps, as you mention).

I understand what you are suggesting, I'm simply saying that if someone wants to avoid this because they don't want Goole (or anything basically) tracking them, as was alluded to in an earlier post, then it seems that disabling location services for Safari might very well be an overall better way to go about accomplishing that for someone.
 
mpavilion said:
Google has to know where I am to deliver location-specific search results. This is how the service -- or any location-based search service -- works.
Click to expand...
Yes I know that, I'm talking about when he just wants a search engine without all the bells and whistles of google maps on a mobile browser that, which I think we can all agree, sucks. It's about when he wants to search for something offhandedly like "macrumors" it shouldn't ask for his location for that, it doesn't need it to fulfill that request, but when it does all the time and doesn't remember, he has a few options, talk to Apple and wait for a fix, turn off location services on the device limiting him when he wants to shop at a store and find the nearest location for pickup, or he can change search engines to one that doesn't ask for his location every....single....time.

So with that being said, the best solution for him without affecting his productivity while using a search engine is to change the search engine instead of setting an option which my be toggled 100 times a year. Contacting Apple should be used in conjunction so hopefully the person can use Google in the future without it asking for his/her permission every time, but since we know how asking for fixes works with the feedback at Apple.com/feedback we can safely assume it won't be anytime soon and so either fight with location services or use another search engine which doesn't require much effort other than a one time switch.
 
When you use DuckDuckGo, you can easily redirect queries to Google simply by adding ‘!g’ to the query. This works in the Safari search bar too. For quick and plain searches, DuckDuckGo is a very capable alternative. You should try it.
 
Turning off location services per c dm's advice did not fix it for me.

To the argument of changing to another service; I don't see why I have to make the compromise when it wasn't an issue prior to ios10.

My phone has a blue pixel, and i want it red! buy a win10 computer to fix it! .. I am not interested in patching a problem, I want to solve it :)

I've installed a proxy on my box to push all the traffic through, but didn't see a difference between search results with map or address data vs results where this wasn't the case. I can't quite pinpoint it right now.

I used to use purify content blocker on ios9, haven't yet on ios10 due to it having a few issues. That's resolved now, so I wonder if i re-install that if it has any effect, i doubt it, but hey, worth a try.

At the least I am happy to see some opinions in this thread, as well as some suggestions and people sharing they have this issue as well.
 
Floris said:
Turning off location services per c dm's advice did not fix it for me.

To the argument of changing to another service; I don't see why I have to make the compromise when it wasn't an issue prior to ios10.

My phone has a blue pixel, and i want it red! buy a win10 computer to fix it! .. I am not interested in patching a problem, I want to solve it :)

I've installed a proxy on my box to push all the traffic through, but didn't see a difference between search results with map or address data vs results where this wasn't the case. I can't quite pinpoint it right now.

I used to use purify content blocker on ios9, haven't yet on ios10 due to it having a few issues. That's resolved now, so I wonder if i re-install that if it has any effect, i doubt it, but hey, worth a try.

At the least I am happy to see some opinions in this thread, as well as some suggestions and people sharing they have this issue as well.
Click to expand...
So you are getting a pop up asking you for location still even after disabling it from location services? Is it an iOS pop up or one from Google?
 
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