A location prompt is your browser asking whether a website may see where your device is. You can safely say no, and for many sites that is the right answer. This guide shows how to deny a request, allow it just once, review permissions you already granted, and fix the cases where location doesn't work after you change your mind. For a related guide, see App Asking for Unnecessary Permissions? How to Review and Revoke Access. For a related guide, see Two-Factor Authentication Stopped Working on a New Phone? How to Recover Access. For a related guide, see App Is Asking for Too Many Permissions? How to Review and Restrict Them.
Should you allow or deny a location request?
Ask one question: does this site need to know where I am to do what I asked? A map, a store locator, a ride or delivery service, or a local weather page has an obvious reason. A recipe blog, news site, or shopping page you just opened usually doesn't.
- Deny or choose "Never" if the request appears the moment a page loads and you didn't click anything location-related.
- Allow once (Chrome's "Allow this time", Safari's "Allow" on a per-visit basis) if you need the feature right now but don't want the site remembering the permission.
- Allow while visiting only for sites you trust and use regularly, such as your mapping service.
Denying doesn't break most sites. You can usually type a city or ZIP code instead. Note that a site can still estimate your general area from your IP address without asking. Blocking the browser permission stops precise location sharing, but it doesn't hide your IP address.
Deny or change location access for one site
This is the quickest fix when a prompt appears or when you've already allowed a site and regret it. Menu names shift slightly between browser versions, but the address-bar route is the most consistent.
Chrome and Edge (desktop)
- Click the icon at the left of the address bar (a padlock or settings-slider icon).
- Find Location and switch it off, or choose the block option. In Edge, you may need to open Permissions for this site first.
- Reload the page if the browser prompts you to.
Firefox (desktop)
- Click the permissions icon at the left of the address bar.
- Next to Access your location, click the X to clear an allowed or blocked setting, or choose to block it.
- Reload the page.
Safari (Mac)
- Go to Safari > Settings > Websites > Location.
- Find the site in the list and set it to Deny (or Ask).
Stop sites from asking in the first place
If the prompts themselves are the annoyance, set a browser-wide default.
- Chrome: Settings > Privacy and security > Site settings > Location. Choose Don't allow sites to see your location. The same page lets you choose whether sites may ask.
- Edge: Settings > Cookies and site permissions > Location. Turn off the "ask first" toggle to block requests outright. Leave it on if you'd rather decide case by case.
- Firefox: Settings > Privacy & Security > Permissions > Location > Settings. Tick Block new requests asking to access your location.
- Safari (Mac): In Settings > Websites > Location, use the When visiting other websites menu at the bottom and choose Deny.
Blocking everything is the strictest option. If you use maps or delivery sites, leaving the default on "ask" and refusing prompts as they come is often more practical.
Review and remove permissions you already granted
Old "Allow" decisions stay in place until you remove them. In Chrome, open Settings > Privacy and security > Site settings > Location and scroll to the lists of sites allowed or blocked from seeing your location. Select a site and change it to Ask or Block, or use the trash/remove option. Edge and Firefox have equivalent lists on their location settings pages, and Safari lists every site under Settings > Websites > Location.
It's worth doing this review once. You'll often find sites you allowed years ago and no longer use.
On iPhone, iPad, and Android
On mobile, two layers apply: the browser's per-site permission and the phone's permission for the browser app itself. If the app is denied at the system level, sites can't get location no matter what you choose in the browser.
iPhone and iPad
- Open Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services.
- Scroll to Safari Websites (or Chrome, Firefox, etc.).
- Choose Never, Ask Next Time Or When I Share, or While Using the App. Safari's wording can vary a little by iOS version.
On recent iOS versions, you can also find Safari's per-site location setting under Settings > Apps > Safari (older versions: Settings > Safari).
Android
- In Chrome, tap the three-dot menu > Settings > Site settings > Location. Turn it off or review the per-site list.
- For the phone-level setting, go to Settings > Location > App permissions (the path differs by manufacturer), select your browser, and choose Don't allow or Allow only while using the app.
- If offered, switch off Use precise location to share only an approximate position.
If location still doesn't behave as expected
Match what you see to the likely cause:
- The site says location is blocked, but you want to allow it. Open the address-bar permissions icon, set Location back to Ask or Allow, and reload. Browsers usually won't re-show a prompt you've already refused until you reset it.
- You allowed it, but the site still can't find you. Check the operating system. On Windows, open Settings > Privacy & security > Location and make sure location services are on and your browser isn't blocked. On a Mac, check System Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services. On phones, use the app-level steps above.
- The location is wrong. Desktop computers without GPS rely on Wi-Fi and IP data, which can be off by a city or more. A VPN may also cause the site to guess a different region. Try turning the VPN off briefly, or enter your address manually.
- A prompt keeps returning. The site may be using a different address (for example, a subdomain), or you may have the setting on "ask" and are declining each time. Choose block for that site, or set the global default to block.
To confirm your changes worked, reload the site and try its location feature. If you blocked it, the site should show an error or ask for manual input. If you allowed it, it should place you on the map. Then reopen the permissions list to check the site shows the setting you expect.
A caution about suspicious prompts
A genuine location prompt appears as a browser-controlled box near the address bar, not as a button or message styled by the page itself. Be skeptical of pages that claim you must allow location to "verify you're human," claim a prize, or unlock a download. Deny it, close the tab, and don't follow instructions that ask you to change system settings.
What to do next
Set your browser to ask (or block) by default, choose Allow this time when you need a feature once, and spend two minutes clearing old permissions from your browser's location list. If a feature still fails after the browser and operating system settings are both correct, check your browser's official help pages for your version, since menu names do change.