Explain the Location Data settings to me

[contacos]

Can someone please explain the location data settings for dummies to me? I read the Apple documentation for it but it seems incomplete / outdated / just not clear to me.

Goal: Having as little activated but at the same time not killing the user experience of iOS

• Apple Pay Merchant Identification: I guess this is only used for Advertisement and therefore can remain OFF
• Compass Calibration: Should I leave this on? I turned it off for a while but I feel like it made finding "me" on a map much more unreliable. Hence the name of the toggle
• Device Management: What is this for exactly? - have had it OFF for a long time and have not noticed a difference
• Emergency Calls & SOS: Why does this require access to my location? My iPhone does not support satellite. Can I turn it off?
• Find My iPhone: Most likely needed for AirTags to work correctly or well, to find my iPhone so I am leaving this ON.
• HomeKit: What is this for? I mainly use the Philips Hue app to control my lights. I do have the Home widget in control center activated but it does not seem to matter if I have HomeKit on or off, therefore I am leaving it OFF
• Location Based Alerts: Probably more Ads - OFF
• Location Based Suggestions: What does this do? Probably more Ads - OFF
• Mobile Network Search: Either I have service or I dont? What does location services have to do with it? - OFF
• Motion Calibration & Distance: Probably required to track my steps? - Leaving it on
• Networking / Wireless: Is this required for AirTags to work correctly or can I turn it off?
• Setting Time Zone: I think this is needed for Screentime to work?
• Share My Location: I guess this is needed to share my location on Find My or iMessage with other people? - never use it - OFF
• System Customisations: I think this needs to be turned on for Night Shift and Dark Mode to work on sun set?
• Wi-Fi Calling: What is this toggle for? I use Wifi Calling but it does not seem to matter having this on or off. It still works either way. Therefore I turned it OFF!

Could I turn anything else off? I only really use AirTags, Night Shift and Dark Mode on Sun Set and GPS on Maps

 

[Helmsley]

This page will answer your questions;

Understanding iOS Location Services and what they do

Learn all about how to configure your iOS location services so that you're not being tracked when you don't need to be, giving you the privacy you deserve.

www.idownloadblog.com

The only one I have enabled is Find My iPhone.

 

[contacos]

I think I ran into this article before but it does not seem to be updated and completely correct. The Wifi Calling part for instance:

Wi-Fi calling: If you’re using Wi-Fi calling on your new iPhone, you should have this feature enabled. It’s required by the Wi-Fi calling feature on your device. If you don’t use Wi-Fi calling, or have a device that doesn’t support it, you can just disable this feature.

Wi-Fi calling also works fine with this one disabled

 

[Helmsley]

I think I ran into this article before but it does not seem to be updated and completely correct. The Wifi Calling part for instance:

Wi-Fi calling: If you’re using Wi-Fi calling on your new iPhone, you should have this feature enabled. It’s required by the Wi-Fi calling feature on your device. If you don’t use Wi-Fi calling, or have a device that doesn’t support it, you can just disable this feature.

Wi-Fi calling also works fine with this one disabled

If it works fine, leave it disabled 🙂