For iOS
The device has to be manually configured to keep GPS from being disabled. Furthermore, to ensure a phone user does not disable GPS afterwards, the device will need to be secured with a passcode.
For iOS 12 and higher (more recent) versions:
- Tap Settings and select Screen Time
- Tap Turn On Screen Time. Tap Continue
- Tap This is My iPhone and select Content & Privacy Restrictions
- Enable Content & Privacy Restrictions and tap Location Services
- Enable Location Services, which then displays the list of apps which require location permission. Ensure LBS Edge Suite permission is set to Always.
- Select the option Don't Allow Changes.
- Go back to Screen Time and tap Use Screen Time Passcode.
- Set a passcode (and make sure to remember it!) for Screen Time which prevents the device user from modifying settings without the passcode. To disable the passcode you need to go to Screen Time and click on Turn Off Screen Time and provide the passcode when prompted.
For iOS versions older than iOS 12:
- Navigate to Settings -> General -> Restrictions.
- Tap Enable Restrictions and set a passcode (and make sure to remember it!) when prompted.
- Navigate to Privacy section and select Location Services.
- Enable the Location Services option. Under the Location Services menu, all the apps installed in the device are listed. You can disable/ enable Location Services for the apps here. Once this has been configured and the settings saved, the Location Services cannot be modified for the existing apps. If any new app is installed after the settings has been configured, Location Services will not be granted to the app. To modify Location Services for the apps, the settings has to be re-configured.
- Tap Don't Allow Changes in the Location Services menu to ensure the settings configured in the previous steps cannot be modified by the users. To disable, you must navigate to Settings -> General -> Restrictions, tap Disable Restrictions and enter the passcode when prompted.