iPhones come with countless features, but not all of them are essential. Some features might be best turned off entirely. Here are ten iPhone settings that I always turn off on my iPhone 16.
iPhone Settings That Should Be Turned Off
1. Significant Locations
Significant Locations is a feature that constantly tracks your iPhone’s location to identify the places you visit most frequently and provide recommendations about them. When enabled, this feature records the locations you visit, the time you spend there, and the routes you take to offer personalized suggestions.
Although Apple claims this data is end-to-end encrypted, constantly tracking someone’s location doesn’t always seem necessary. That’s why I keep this feature turned off. To turn it off, go to Settings>Privacy and Security>Location Services> System Services>and then scroll down to turn off the Significant Locations feature.
2. App Tracking
When “Allow Apps to Request to Track” is turned on, the apps on your iPhone track your activities across other apps and websites. This data is used to understand your shopping habits and improve advertisements.
Since I am cautious about privacy, and you should be, too, I always turn this iPhone setting off. To do so, go to Settings> Privacy and Security> Tracking and turn off the “Allow Apps to Request to Track” feature.
3. NameDrop
When Namedrop was introduced with iOS 17, it quickly became the center of attention. I was also excited to try this feature with my friends, where bringing iPhones close to each other displayed beautiful animations. However, over time, we realized that this feature activates automatically when iPhones are brought near each other, which can be inconvenient in daily life.
If you don’t want Namedrop to activate unnecessarily, you can turn off this feature and use the traditional AirDrop instead. To do this, go to Settings>General>AirDrop and turn off the “Bringing Devices Together” setting.
4. Learn From This App
Under the default settings, the voice assistant Siri analyzes how you use apps and collects data to improve suggestions. However, this can become a real privacy issue for those who use apps with more sensitive data, like WhatsApp, Gmail, Amazon, etc.
To turn this off, go to Settings>then Apps, select an app, and turn off the “Learn from This App” button under the App Intelligence and Siri section.
5. Notifications While Sharing Screen
Receiving a personal notification while sharing your screen in the office or college can be the most embarrassing situation. If you frequently share your screen, turn off this setting today to avoid unnecessary remarks and criticism.
To do this, go to Settings>Notifications>Screen Sharing, and turn off “Allow Notifications.”
6. Standby Mode
During the day, I charge my iPhone and place it on a stand in landscape mode to make watching Netflix or YouTube easier. That’s why I’ve never liked StandBy mode, especially since bringing the screen back to the lock screen becomes difficult unless I pick up the iPhone or unplug it from charging.
To turn off this feature, go to Settings > “StandBy” and turn off the “StandBy” option.
7. Audio Playback While Recording Video
Recently, I wrote an article sharing ways to improve audio quality while recording videos on the iPhone. I mentioned how the “Allow Audio Playback” feature can degrade the quality of the sound recorded with the video.
The first thing is, when this feature is turned off, your iPhone switches from Stereo to Mono Recording, which doesn’t sound as good. Secondly, if you’re talking, the sound coming from the speaker can make the recorded audio unclear.
It’s better to turn this feature off unless you need it. To turn it off, go to Settings → Camera > Record Sound> and turn off the “Allow Audio Playback” feature.
8. Attention Awareness
The Attention Aware features in iPhone X and later models check whether you’re looking at your iPhone so that information can be displayed properly. For example, when you’re reading something on your iPhone, the screen remains dim until you look at it. If you’re focused on the screen, the iPhone lowers the volume of incoming alerts.
This feature is reliable, but sometimes, it can make incorrect guesses, which might lower the alarm volume or dim the screen when you’re looking at it. That’s why I always keep this feature turned off. To turn it off, go to Settings > Face ID and Passcode, and turn off the “Attention Aware Features” button.
If this button is disabled, go to Accessibility>Face ID and Attention, then turn off the “Require Attention for Face ID” option.
9. Automatic App Updates
By default, iOS automatically updates apps according to the latest version available on the App Store. However, this can sometimes be annoying, significantly when developers change the user interface and you’re used to the old one. To avoid any hassle or unnecessary issues, I always turn this feature off.
To turn this off, go to Settings> Apps>App Store and turn off the App Updates feature.
10. Offload Unused Apps
This is another annoying iOS setting that I always keep turned off. I have over forty apps installed on my iPhone 16, but I don’t use them all daily. For example, there’s an Indian app called “Digi Yatra” that helps with ID checks at the airport entrance.
I use it about five to six times a year, but often when I search for the app name in Spotlight, I find that iOS has offloaded it. The same happens with a banking app I use as well.
Although the purpose of this feature is to free up storage occupied by unused apps, I prefer having the app available even if I don’t need it rather than needing it and finding it unavailable.
To turn it off, go to Settings>Apps>App Store and turn off the “Offload Unused Apps” option.