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Apple Maps on Mac and iPhone now includes a Visited Places feature (occasionally referenced as Significant Locations) that tracks places you regularly visit. Rolled out in recent iOS versions, such as iOS 26, the feature is meant to make it easier for users to reach destinations quickly, return to familiar locations, and share places with friends.
However, with growing anxiety among users, there have been concerns regarding the automatic location tracking, even though Apple assures that such data is end-to-end encrypted and kept only on the device.
Visited Places maintains a rolling record of your most visited locations. The users can see, arrange, and even put notes on these places for convenience. Apple wants its users to know that the data in question is not being collected by the tech giant or outsourced to a third party unless the customer is aware and has given permission.
Even though this assurance might comfort some users, a large number of iPhone users are still uncomfortable with their travels being recorded and stored automatically. They are largely concerned about digital privacy and location tracking.
If users want to turn off the location tracking on Apple Maps, they can follow the steps below:
Open Settings.
Scroll down to Apps and choose Maps.
Tap Location, then scroll down to Visited Places.
Switch the toggle off to instantly cease new location tracking.
Shutting off this feature ensures Apple Maps will not record any future locations you’ve been to.
To delete previously tracked whereabouts:
Open Apple Maps.
Tap Places, then Visited Places.
Scroll down to the bottom and choose Clear History.
Confirm by tapping Clear All.
This will delete any location history stored on your device, providing you with a fresh start.
Even though Apple encrypts location details such that only users can understand the data, individuals concerned about privacy may still opt to disable the Visited Places feature. This would allow the users to decide which places will be recorded and prevent the storage of very private details by default. With mobile phones turning into the center of daily activities, taking measures to secure one’s location privacy is becoming a necessity for iPhone users.
