Instagram won’t show your exact location to your followers.
Does Instagram Share Your Precise, Not a General Location, with Followers?
A social media post claims that Instagram is sharing users’ precise location with their followers.
But the platform denied the claims.
The post is shared predominantly on Instagram. It received thousands of likes and comments. It claims if you own an iPhone, IG for iOS will share your exact location with your followers.
It happens if you tag a location in a story.
For instance, if you share a post on Instagram and tag a generic location, the platform will show your precise location to your followers. It works this way because of the recent iOS update, according to the source.
The viral post also claimed that stalkers and criminals are already using this feature to search for people and break into their homes and cars.
True or False?
However, there’s no truth to it. Apple made no changes to location sharing.
Instagram left a comment on the viral post stating that it does not share the location with other people. The platform utilizes the user’s location for things such as determining a location tag if a user adds one to a post or story.
However, it does not make the user’s exact location public.
The head of Instagram also addressed the allegations stating that Location Services is a setting on the phone and not a feature from IG.
Managing Your Location Settings
If you want to be sure that your exact location is not shared, you can go to Settings on your iPhone.
Tap Privacy and choose Location Services. From there, you will find a list of apps with location data access. Tap Instagram and choose from among the three options.
You can choose not to share your location at all with the third-party app.
The “Ask Next Time or When I Share” is another option that lets you share your location for that single time.
Or you can choose to share your location each time you open the app.
Below those options, though, there is a toggle for Precise Location. When you enable it, the app, in this case, Instagram, will use your specific information. But when you disable it, it can determine your approximate location.
You can choose whatever setting you want for every app. Experts recommend toggling the Precise Location option off for every application.
There’s no reason for Instagram and some apps to use your precise location data.
This feature is only helpful when you’re using Google Maps, Apple Maps, or ride-sharing apps. The precise location is vital for these apps to serve up directions or to figure out where you are so that they can display available vehicles nearby.
Precise Location is also vital on Yelp.
But on Instagram, this feature is not beneficial. But it depends on how you use it. If you are looking for nearby restaurants, Precise Location can serve up more relevant locations for you.
Going back to the viral post. There’s no truth to it. Instagram can’t share your exact location with your followers.
