Apple almost never reveals what’s coming in its iPhone updates ahead of time. So, a new support document from Apple explaining that iOS 26.3 will have a new feature that will limit how much is revealed about your location, is rare, to say the least.
On Monday, Jan. 26, Apple announced that a new setting will allow users to limit how precisely carriers can pinpoint your location. Something that will “limit some information that cellular networks may use to determine your location” is coming. And it’s coming soon, since iOS 26.3 is expected to land in a matter of days.
“Mobile networks determine location based on the cellular towers that a device connects to, but with the setting enabled, some of the data typically made available to mobile networks is being restricted,” MacRumors reported. “Rather than being able to see location down to a street address, carriers will instead be limited to the neighborhood where a device is located, for example.”
iOS 26.3 Location Privacy Feature: What Apple Is Changing
Apple has stressed that the setting that controls this, which can be turned on and off, “doesn’t impact the precision of the location data that is shared with emergency responders during an emergency call.” It also doesn’t affect when you share your location in the Find My app.
But there are two big catches.
The First Catch: Limited Carrier Support
First, it will only work with selected carriers. When the service launches, only one U.S. carrier will support it, Boost Mobile. Support elsewhere includes two U.K. carriers, though they are the same company, EE and BT. In Germany, Telekom will support it and in Thailand AIS and True. That’s not universal — at least for now.
The Bigger Catch: Only iPhones With Apple Modems Are Supported
But there’s another catch: it’s exclusive to iPhones with Apple’s in-house modems in them. Right now, there are exactly two models, the iPhone 16e and iPhone Air, which have the C1 and C1X modems respectively. Most iPhones use Qualcomm modems but they are not supported. It will also work with the M5 iPad Pro with the C1X modem.
It’s expected that the next affordable iPhone, the iPhone 17e, will also have an Apple in-house modem, and that phone is expected in the next couple of months, so then there will be three iPhones with this capability.