Many smartphone apps can use your location to provide information about things nearby, like points of interest or even local offers. The mobile network uses your phone’s location to keep it connected it to the closest transmitter.
Location data icons
When your phone is gathering location data, you'll see an icon in the status bar:
iPhones: a purple arrow
Android phones: a white circle with a cross-hair
Using location data to find your phone
If you lose your phone, the location data can help to find it. You can download apps like Find My iPhone that let you track your phone's location online, with options to remotely lock it, make it sound an alarm or erase all of the data.
Checking in
Apps like Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat let you check in to locations. This will tell other users where you are. You may want to change your privacy settings so that it only tells your friends, rather than letting everyone see it as a public post.
How to turn location data off
You can switch off location data in your Settings menu. For some apps, location data options may be in the Privacy section.
Network Location information
So that the O2 network can deliver data, calls and texts to your phone, it has to know where your mobile is and which masts it's connected to.
Smart Steps
Smart Steps is our anonymous location data service. It helps companies and public sector organisations estimate the number of people visiting a particular area by recognising how many phones are in that location at certain times. This information is aggregated – which means it is only provided on a group level, showing the movement of crowds and not individuals. For example, this aggregated and anonymous information helps retailers determine the best locations for new stores or a council where best to have its bus routes.
For further information on how we protect and use customer information visit our privacy policy
For More help
For iPhones, visit the Apple Support Community and iTunes store
For Android, search Google Play for "find my phone" apps
If you're not sure about any techy terms, check out our jargon buster.
Last updated: 07/04/2025
