Oliver Haslam on February 10, 2020, 6:48 pm

How To Disable iPhone 11 / Pro Ultra Wideband U1 Location Chip

Here’s how to disable iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max Ultra Wideband U1 location chip the right way.

Apple’s iPhone 11, iPhone 11 Pro, and iPhone 11 Pro Max all feature the U1 chip, Apple’s new Ultra Wideband solution. While that doesn’t mean a great deal to most people, it does mean that your iPhone is tracking your location, and you can now turn it off.

The chip itself is almost useless right now. In its current state it can help you send AirDrop messages to people more easily, but that’s about it. In the future, however, it’s likely to tie into Apple’s rumored AirTags Tile-like trackers. And that’s why it’s important.

According to Apple, the U1 chip isn’t allowed to function in all countries so it needs to keep tabs on your location so it can be disabled when required. All of that location data is stored on your iPhone and never leaves it, but if you still want to disable that data gathering you can. So long as you’ve updated to iOS 13.3.1.

Assuming you have, here’s how to go about disabling the U1 chip completely.

Step 1: Open the Settings app on your iPhone.

Step 2: Scroll down until you see Privacy and tap it.

Step 3: Tap Location Services followed by System Services.

Step 4: Now simply flick the Networking and Wireless toggle button to the Off position.

And that’s it. It’s worth noting that in this state your iPhone won’t be able to use location services to improve WiFi and Bluetooth. So there’s that.