How to completely disable geodata on Xiaomi Android smartphones: 5 proven ways

Xiaomi’s MIUI-based smartphones are using geolocation data to power maps, weather widgets, and personalized services. However, constant coordinate transfers can threaten privacy or simply drain the battery. In this article, we’ll look at all the ways to disable geodata, from basic settings to hidden firmware functions.

It is important to understand that geolocation in Xiaomi works on three levels: hardware (GPS-chip), system (MIUI Location Services and software (Google Play Services) Deactivating completely requires intervention in all three layers. We'll look at both standard methods from the settings menu and advanced tricks for power users.

1. Disable geolocation in MIUI settings

The most obvious way is to use the built-in MIUI tools, which will work for most models (Redmi Note 11, POCO X5, Xiaomi 13, etc.), but has a limitation: some system applications will still get approximate location through Wi-Fi and cell towers.

To disable geodata:

• 📍 Open the Settings. → Confidentiality → Permits → Location
• 🔄 Transfer the top slider to the off position.
• 🔍 Scroll down and click on Additional Settings → Scanning.
• ⚡ Turn off Wi-Fi Scanning and Bluetooth Scanning for precise location determination

After this action GPS-The app will not work for all apps, but Google and MIUI They can still determine your approximate location through IP-address and data of the operator.

💡

If after disabling geolocation banking applications (SberBank, Tinkoff) stopped working, add them to the exceptions in the section Permits → Location → Exceptions.

2. Managing permissions for individual applications

Even with geolocation turned off, some programs can request access to coordinates, and in MIUI 14 and later, there is a granular control feature that allows access only while using the application or completely blocks.

How to set up:

1. Go to Settings → Applications → Application Management
2. Select the desired application (for example, Google Maps or Yandex.Maps)
3. Press Permissions → Location
4. Choose one of the options: 🚫 Prohibit - full block 🔄 Only during use - access only when the application is open ✅ Allowed – permanent access (not recommended)

Pay special attention to system services:

• 📱 com.miui.location – Geolocation service MIUI
• 🌍 Google Play Services is Google’s primary data collector
• 📡 MiuiDaemon - background process that transmits telemetry

3. Disabling Google Location Services

Google collects location data even when GPS is turned off, through Location History and Google Location Accuracy, to stop this activity completely:

Step 1: Turn off location history:

1. Open the Google Maps app
2. Slip on your profile avatar → Your timeline
3. Press. ⚙️ → Timeline settings
4. Turn off Location History and Web Search and Application Activity

Step 2: Deactivate the accuracy improvement:

• 📱 Go to Settings. → Google → Google services → Location
• 🔄 Turn off Improved Location Accuracy
• 🗑️ Click Delete Location History (if there is stored data)

After this action, Google will stop saving your movements, but some services (such as searching for nearby devices) may work worse.

4 Advanced Methods: ADB and Hidden Settings

For users with unlocked bootloader and root rights, there are additional ways to disable geolocation at the system level, which require technical skills and can lead to unstable device operation.

Method 1: Disconnect via ADB (without root):

adb shell settings put global location_mode 0


adb shell settings put global location_providers_allowed -gps,-network

Method 2: Freeze system services (requires root):

• 🛠️ Use Titanium Backup or AppOps to freeze: com.google.android.gms (Google Play Services) com.miui.location (MIUI Location) com.xiaomi.midrop (Mi Drop - uses geodata to transfer files)

Method 3: Edit the build.prop file (power users only):

ro.location.no_gps=1


ro.com.google.locationfeatures=0

5. Alternative solutions: VPN and mock location

If you don’t need to turn off geolocation completely, but simply hide your real location, consider these options:

To activate Mock Location:

1. Enable Developer Mode (7 times tap the Build Number in Settings → About Phone)
2. Go to Settings → Additional → For Developers
3. Find the Mock Application Selection for Location and specify the Spoofer App (e.g. Fake GPS Location)

Enable Developer Mode |Install the spoofer app (Fake GPS, Fly GPS)|Select it in the mock location settings |Disable real GPS in the settings |Reboot the device-->

Verification of the effectiveness of the disconnection

To make sure that the geodata is actually disabled, use these verification methods:

Method 1: Online services:

• 🌐 Open up. browserleaks.com/geo browser-wise
• 📡 Check the IP-Geolocation data and HTML5 Geolocation
• ✅ If all fields are empty or show incorrect data, geolocation is disabled.

Method 2: Test applications:

• 📱 Install. GPS Status & Toolbox from Play Market
• 📊 Check status. GPS: It must be no fix or disabled.
• 🛡️ In the Sensors section, make sure that location data is not updated.

Method 3: Logs of the system:

adb logcat | grep -i "location\|gps\|fused"

If there are no records of obtaining coordinates in the logs, the geolocation is successfully blocked.

Wi-Fi Network Data (BSSID)

- Information about cell towers (Cell ID)

- IP-address (provider geolocation)

For complete anonymity, use a combination of methods: disable GPS + VPN + permit-locking.-->

7. Frequent problems and their solutions

When disabling geolocation, Xiaomi users often face these difficulties:

⚠️ Attention: If after the shutdown GPS Mobile payments (Google Pay, Mi Pay) have stopped working, check the security settings in the banking application. Some financial services require enabled geolocation to confirm transactions.

Problem 1: The geolocation itself turns on after the reset.

Solution: This involves automatic time-zone synchronization. Turn it off in Settings → System → Date and Time → Autodetermination.

Issue 2: Apps ignore location bans.

Solution: Use AppOps (root required) to force the block:

adb shell appops set [package_name] android:location OFF

Replace. [package_name] on the problem application ID.

Problem 3: The connection quality deteriorated after the Wi-Fi scanning was turned off.

Solution: Turn back Wi-Fi Scanning in your location settings, but turn off Accuracy Improvement in Google services, which will allow you to maintain a stable connection without transferring geodata.

FAQ: Answers to popular questions