One question echoed by all the privacy concerned users across the globe is whether it’s safe to share their device location with third-party apps and services or not.
Truth be told, there are two ways to look into it. On the one hand, it is sure to raise a few eyebrows considering that the app might be able to track you down to your actual location.
However, on the other side, it comes with its own share of perks as well. And there’s definitely some weight to this statement that the benefits of sharing your location might outdo the risks involved in some instances.
In this regard, many popular web browsers come baked in with the Geolocation API, which is used by many websites and web applications.
But why would a site want to track our location? Well, it would use it to send us curated contents that are based on our locations.
For example, if you query ‘automobile repair shops’ nearby, the search results would use this geolocation API to show you the results of only those shops in the vicinity of your actual location.
Along the same lines, navigational websites that display maps and routes also use your geo-location to send you accurate directions to a place.
In this guide, we will show you how to enable location service on Microsoft’s Edge browser.
So without any further ado, let’s get started with the steps to control geolocation access in the Edge browser, both on the PC and smartphone devices.
Location Access in Edge Computer
The Edge browser on the computer allows controlling the location service and requests permissions to allow or block the sites to your location.
Here are the steps to enable or disable location access in Microsoft Edge on Computer:
- Launch the Microsoft Edge browser on your PC.
- Click on the More
for menu list. - Select the Settings options menu.
- Switch to the Cookies and Site permissions tab from the left menu bar.
- Scroll to the All Permission section, and click on the Location menu.
- Turn ON or OFF the toggle for Ask before accessing (recommended) option.
If you turn ON the toggle button, the location service is enabled. Whenever you interact with any site that needs your location, it will send you a prompt. You may then decide accordingly by clicking on or command button.
However, if you turn OFF the toggle for Ask before accessing, the location access pop-up will not be displayed and blocked for all the sites.
Location Service in Edge Android
Like Edge computer, the Microsoft Edge for Android provides complete control over the browser and site’s usage of location service. We can either block the individual request or completely stop getting device location requests.
Here are the steps to allow or block the location service for websites on Edge for Android:
- Launch the Edge Browser on the smartphone.
- Tap on the More on the bottom menu bar.
- Select the Settings from the menu that pops up.
- Tap on the Privacy and Security section followed by Site Permissions.
- Select the Location menu from the list.
- Enable or Disable the toggle button for location service.
If you’ve enabled the Location toggle, whenever you come across a website that wants access to your location, you will first have to tap on the command. You can also hit if you think it’s an invalid or malicious request.
After that, bring up the notification panel from the top and enable the GPS from the Quick Setting toggle. Only now, the said site would be able to access your location.
However, if you toggle off the location service from the Edge’s Site Settings menu, the site won’t request you with the device’s location requests.
Bottom Line: Location Access in Edge
So with this, we round off the guide on how you could enable or disable geolocation on the Microsoft Edge browser, both on Android and Computer PC.
While granting or revoking location permission for a website depends on the user’s preference, you should at least make sure that sites with such access are safe and trusted.
Furthermore, if you wish to take away the location permission from any site or want to remove one from the blocked list, then head over to edge://settings/content/location page and click on the Trash icon next to the desired website under the Block or Allow section.
Let us know what you think about location permission settings and how it is useful for you in day-in-day-out. Also, did you blocked any site requesting your location?