Since our last video about iPhone system services
was such a hit,
we decided to take the list of iPhone system services
and explain them all from top to bottom.
Some are pretty cut and dried,
but for a lot of them, when you look under the hood,
a world of possibilities opens up.
Possibilities for you to be tracked,
your battery to be drained, or your data to be sold.
Let's dive in.
First, let's head to system services on my phone.
I'll open settings and scroll down to privacy and security.
Tap on that, then tap on location services at the top
and aggressively scroll all the way
to the bottom of this page.
Then tap system services.
And we'll start with a brand new system service
in iOS 17.3 called alerts and shortcuts automations.
If you haven't updated to iOS 17.3 yet,
it's called location-based alerts.
Alerts and shortcuts automations
lets your iPhone use your location
to remind you to call someone
when you get to a specific place
or when to leave for your next appointment.
This one is fine for privacy,
but it may or may not be great for battery life.
Pro tip number one is that GPS
is one of the biggest battery drainers on iPhone.
The more often your phone uses it
and the more precisely it hones in on exactly where you are,
the faster your battery drains.
This will be a theme throughout this video.
So to save battery life, I'm gonna turn it off.
Next up, Apple Pay Merchant Identification,
which lets your iPhone use your current location
to help provide more accurate merchant names
when you use your physical Apple card.
I don't even know where mine is.
I've never used my physical Apple card.
And there have been reports
where Apple Pay incorrectly identifies the merchant
based on location.
So you buy a cup of coffee, next thing you know,
your phone is saying you made a purchase
at the sneaker shop next door.
It's just a glitch,
but it can cause some unnecessary anxiety.
And we like to minimize anxiety.
One way we do that is by offering free PDF guides
to our channel members
that walk you through every setting we talk about
in this and many of our most popular videos.
It's a great way to follow along at your own pace
and it helps us out a lot.
So in this case, I'm gonna turn off the switch
next to Apple Pay Merchant Identification
and next, cell network search.
Now, cell network search might sound like
it has something to do with your phone's ability
to search for cell networks.
I don't know why you'd think that though.
Your iPhone uses GPS and Bluetooth
along with crowdsourced Wi-Fi hotspot and cell phone towers
to determine your phone's approximate location.
And approximate often means within a few feet.
So companies like Apple love to brag
about how much they respect my privacy
because they're not sharing my location
or spying on my location using the GPS
that's directly built into my phone.
So if I was Apple, how would I deliver targeted ads
based on a person's location?
That is what the crowdsourced databases are for.
So when it's time for you to see an ad,
your phone sends data about which cellular networks,
which Wi-Fi hotspots are in range of your phone to Apple.
Apple checks its database to see where those towers are.
Now Apple knows basically exactly where you are.
Further proof that this has nothing to do
with actually searching for cell networks
is in Apple's support article
about what to do if you don't have good cell phone service.
If this had anything at all to do it,
you think that they'd mention it
when you're troubleshooting
how to fix cell network searching problems, but it doesn't.
Next up, compass calibration.
The most important part of what this does
is actually in Maps apps,
where this gives you the ability
to point your phone in a specific direction.
It's especially useful in large cities.
Maybe there's a lot of skyscrapers.
You don't have a great GPS connection.
So your phone can use its internal compass
to point you in the right direction.
If I live in a city,
this is something I'm going to leave on.
And even though I don't live in a big city right now,
I leave it on too,
just because I like the little arrow in the Maps apps.
You'll see, we are not just turn everything off people.
You know, we'll tell you the truth.
Next up, device management.
Device management is a service that allows your employer
or your school to manage your phone.
If your school or IT department at work
doesn't manage your phone,
you can go ahead and turn this one right off.
And the reason these are concerning
is that any monitoring that goes on
in the background of your phone
using a device management profile is not always obvious
because it's designed to be invisible.
So it's a powerful tool in the right hands,
dangerous tool in the wrong hands.
Maybe we'll make a video about that.
Hit the subscribe button if you think we should.
Emergency calls and SOS is next.
When an emergency call is placed,
in addition to the location already provided
to emergency services,
your iPhone or Apple watch will make additional data
available through what's called
the Enhanced Emergency Data Service.
This may include street address information
if your current location is near your home or work address
and your contact card.
The second part of it is that it will automatically text
your emergency contacts when the call is over.
But you should also be aware that for safety reasons,
your iPhone's location information may be used
when an emergency call is placed to aid response efforts,
regardless of whether or not
you enable location services at all.
So I like to leave this one on
if I'm having an emergency,
let's give the emergency responders
as much info as possible to help them out.
I mean, am I right, people?
Next up, Find My iPhone.
Gotta leave it on if you wanna use Find My iPhone
in the Find My app.
I'm leaving it on.
I said some of them were cut and dry.
Next up is HomeKit.
HomeKit is Apple programming jargon for the tech
that lets smart home products like lights and locks
work with your Apple products like iPhone and HomePod.
This switch controls whether or not HomeKit
or the Apple Home app can use automations
based on your location.
For instance, you might want your iPhone
to turn off the lights when you leave home.
It's great in theory,
but if you struggle at all with battery life,
and during my time at the Apple Store,
I saw tons of issues with the geofencing features
just like this one, I'm gonna turn this one off.
Next up is Motion Calibration and Distance.
And this is less about your actual iPhone
than you might think.
Motion Calibration and Distance lets your iPhone
improve the accuracy of your distance, pace,
and calorie calculations on your Apple Watch,
especially when GPS is unavailable.
If you're not using your iPhone to work out,
you can comfortably turn this switch right off.
If you do use your phone to work out,
or especially if you do any of the Apple Watch
fitness-y stuff, leave it turned on.
I personally am gonna turn it off
because every time we turn one of these switches off,
we save a little bit of battery life.
And who doesn't want more battery life for their phone?
Next up is Networking and Wireless.
This is the Wi-Fi version of Cell Network Search.
You'd think by the name Networking and Wireless
that this would have anything to do at all
with your phone's ability to network or be wireless,
but it doesn't, surprise.
This is about building Apple's crowdsourced database
of Wi-Fi networks, which are devices that they can use to,
you guessed it, track your location
and show you targeted ads
because your attention is worth money after all.
There's this misconception
that just because user data is anonymized, you're safe,
but they're still sending data about your device,
like unique identifiers and all this other stuff
that's connected to the device itself,
and you happen to own the device.
So it isn't a big leap to get from anonymized
to non-anonymized data.
There are all these privacy safeguards built into our phones
that really do protect us,
but if somebody is determined enough
or has the resources of a government, for instance,
let's not delude ourselves into thinking
that we're truly using our phones anonymously.
Put on my tinfoil hat right now, I guess.
So I'll turn off Networking and Wireless.
It's gonna warn me.
Turn it off.
Next up, Satellite Connection,
for those of you people with iPhone 14s and newer,
which allows your iPhone to use
the Emergency SOS via Satellite feature.
I leave it on.
Next up is setting time zone.
At first glance, it's a no-brainer,
adjusting your time zone based on your location,
but in real life, it's a big battery drainer.
Now, I may have done a little traveling in my day,
but I ain't no jet setter,
and I don't need my phone to constantly check in
with cell towers to decide which time zone I'm in,
because, as I said, it's a battery drainer,
and I'm almost positive
I won't be leaving this time zone today.
When I do travel, I just come back in here
and flip the switch on and off again
to update the clock on my phone,
and you're saving battery life in the meantime.
It's like you pay for a month of HBO,
and you watch one show,
and then you don't use the subscription for a year,
and you're paying hundreds of dollars for HBO,
and eventually you get fed up and you cancel HBO.
Next up, Share My Location,
which lets you share your location
through the Messages app, for example.
If you turn it off,
you can't share your location with anyone,
so it's up to you whether or not
you want to leave this on or turn it off,
but location sharing can be a big battery drainer.
You have been warned.
I do sometimes use it, though, so I'll leave it on.
Next, we see Sharing.Framework,
which is a developer setting you may or may not see it.
You can safely turn it off,
as long as you're not a developer.
Next, Suggestions and Search,
which lets your iPhone send its location to Apple
to provide more relevant recommendations for you,
like relevant search suggestions and news.
If you don't turn this on, you'll save battery life,
and Apple will still use the IP address
of your internet connection to determine where you are,
so I can safely turn this one right off.
I'm still gonna get local news.
Just doesn't use the GPS on the phone.
I save battery, win-win, but if you use a VPN
and you like suggested news articles, for example,
you might start to see some strange stuff
because now Apple won't know exactly where your phone is.
Next up is System Customization.
Now, System Customization lets your iPhone
customize system appearance, behaviors, and settings
using your current location.
Kind of vague, but what's an example?
This can automatically enable optimized battery charging
when you're at home.
I am not anti-system customization
because, according to Apple,
none of the customization data in here
actually ever leaves your device.
So we have a reason to have it on,
which is the optimized battery charging thing, check,
and it's secure, check.
Okay, Apple, we'll leave this switch on,
and that's what I like.
I like specific reasons, and I like clarity
with what's gonna happen with a switch.
And next up, Wi-Fi calling.
Now, a lot of you might think that this Wi-Fi calling
on-off switch has something to do
with turning Wi-Fi calling on or off on your iPhone,
but like a lot of these settings, it doesn't.
What does it actually do?
This setting is about sending your location
to your wireless carrier when you make short code calls,
which usually provide access to public services
because they won't work
if the phone doesn't know where you are.
So Apple sends the city to your carrier.
According to Apple, if you do not want to share the city
you are calling from with your carrier
when making short code calls,
you may turn off location services for Wi-Fi calling
on your iOS or watchOS device by going to Settings,
Privacy and Security, Location Services,
and tapping to turn off the switch.
And about those emergency services,
emergency calls you make on your iPhone
are routed through cellular service when that's available,
not Wi-Fi calling.
So I turn this one right off.
Next, a setting that is significant.
Now, can you guess which one it is?
It's significant locations.
Let's tap on that and I'll use Face ID to log in.
How does this work?
Well, your iPhone and other Apple devices
keep track of places you've recently gone
as well as how often and when you visited them
in order to learn places that are significant to you.
This data is end-to-end encrypted
and cannot be read by Apple.
It's used to provide you with personalized services
such as predictive traffic routing
and to build better memories in photos.
But your iPhone has to use GPS to find out where you are
before it can encrypt and save this data.
And that is a battery drainer.
So if you want to get the most out of your battery,
this is one feature I recommend turning off
and then turning off and then tap back.
Next, we're into the product improvement section
of this video.
We'll start with iPhone Analytics.
iPhone Analytics lets your iPhone include your location
and analytics data you may or may not be sending to Apple
or to app developers.
I'll drop a link to the video about other settings
you should turn off on your phone in the card above
in the description section below
where we talk about how to turn those settings off too.
But in other words, this doesn't turn off the collection
of or sending of all your analytics.
It just turns off the location piece of it.
And this setting is far too vague for my liking.
Apple defines iPhone Analytics as data
about how you use your devices and applications.
So basically it's whatever they want it to be.
Apple says none of this information is used
to identify you personally, but it's more GPS usage
and therefore more battery drainage.
Next up, routing and traffic.
This service tracks your speed and location
to provide traffic information in Apple Maps.
It also allows your iPhone to periodically send
barometric pressure information to Apple
for their crowdsourced road traffic
and atmospheric correction databases.
What the heck is an atmospheric con-data-bration for?
What the heck is an atmospheric correction database for?
I don't know.
My barometer on this one says to turn it off.
Next, improve maps.
If you turn on this switch,
Apple will collect the GPS coordinates
obtained through significant locations
and correlate them with street addresses
associated with your Apple ID.
So basically we're helping Apple
to find out exactly where your house is,
which as you can imagine,
especially in the wide open spaces of middle America,
may have very little to do with your actual street address.
It also lets your iPhone periodically send location
of where and when you launched apps,
including the name of the apps.
I'm turning this one right off.
And not to be forgotten,
last but not least, status bar icon.
Regardless of whether you have status bar icon on or off,
you will always see the little compass icon in the top bar
when an app uses your location.
This switch turns on that same little icon
for all of these system services too.
If I were more of a cynic,
I might say the switch is off by default
because Apple doesn't want you to know
just how often your location is being used.
And I think it's less about privacy
and more about cutting down on their support costs
because nobody likes to see
that their location is being tracked
when they don't think they need to have it be tracked
or their phone isn't doing anything.
I recommend turning the switch on
and face the truth about just how often
your phone is tracking your location
and draining your battery.
You see, it just appeared for me right there.
Why is that?
Well, compass calibration is purple right now.
It's because I opened the Maps app
and it wanted to know which direction to point.
Remember I said that's what it did?
Oh, there you go.
Next, watch this video about iPhone settings to turn off
to get the best battery life possible
because we do talk about all those other analytics,
tracking features on your phone, and a whole lot more.
We will see you there.