How To Turn Off Tesla Location For Complete Privacy

As great and advanced as Tesla is, it sometimes fails to protect their users’ privacy. When it comes to their GPS, users are often worried about turning off their Tesla location for numerous reasons.

So, how to turn off the Tesla location? There are a myriad of ways suggested by regular Tesla drivers, but some often don’t result in fruitful experiences. Through thorough research and use, we have figured out three methods that will give you the best results:

• Turn off mobile access inside the car.
• Disconnect the GPS antennae or use a jammer.
• Rotate the map.

Moving on, we will give you detailed guidance about these three methods. Additionally, we will discuss the importance of tracking your location to help you assess the risks. Moreover, to save you time, we inform you about futile methods that most people might suggest.

How To Turn Off Tesla Location?

Some might disagree with turning off your Tesla location, but we are leaving it to your well-intentioned judgment. Here are a few ways to turn off Tesla’s location.

Turn off mobile access inside the car

Disabling mobile access from your car is easy and effective. By doing this, you’re keeping your location private from other app users. Follow these steps to turn off the mobile access:

• On the central touchscreen, go to “Quick Controls.”
• Go to “Safety & Security.”
• Toggle off “Mobile Access.”    

Here’s a YouTube video for a better understanding:

Disconnect the GPS antennae or use a jammer

You can simply remove the GPS antenna from your Tesla. Usually, the antenna is hidden inside rearview mirrors, but this can vary depending on the model. We recommend you check your vehicle’s owner’s manual for warnings regarding antennae removal.

Here’s a table of the GPS antennae location for different models:

Tesla Model	GPS Antennae Location
Model S	Under the back hatch glass on the left side
Model X	Under the back hatch glass on the left side
Model Y	Behind the windscreen at the bottom of the Geotab device
Model 3	Behind the camera inside the windshield camera pod

Alternatively, you can purchase a GPS jammer. However, when purchasing this, you need to assess the risks and legality. Many countries consider GPS jammers illegal, so you need to check the legal restrictions of where you reside.

Moreover, Tesla’s GPS antennae contribute to other features such as navigation, autopilot, and car summoning. Thus, by messing with the antenna, you will not only hamper crucial functions but also compromise your safety.

Rotate the map

While this isn’t a common method, it surely is the easiest one. All you need to do is rotate or move the map on your screen. Just touch the map and drag it around in any direction with a finger. Keep dragging until you receive a message saying, “ Tracking disabled.”

Seeing this message should be reassuring. However, if you have any further doubts, you can always take a glance at your vehicle’s owner’s manual.

What Are the Benefits of Turning Off Tesla Car Location?

Now, you might be wondering if it is worth it to turn off your Tesla location. Are there any benefits to turning off the location? Yes, there are quite a few benefits as follows.

Increased Privacy

In this age, privacy is a very big concern for a lot of people. Without the GPS, nobody can track you through the Tesla app. So, by turning off your GPS, you have one less concern regarding your privacy.

Increased Focus

GPS is often the reason behind a driver being distracted. This is worse for Tesla drivers because their GPS is directly linked to Autopilot features, which makes the drivers less attentive.

Thus, you have no option but to pay full attention on the road once your GPS is off.

While there are some advantages, you should also consider the harms of turning off your Tesla location. Next, we will talk about the importance of your Tesla location.

Why Is It Important To Track Your Location?

While turning off your Tesla’s location increases your privacy, it diminishes several advantages. With this feature of Tesla, you know the location of your vehicle at all times. Thus, through its anti-theft systems, it gives you the upper hand if your vehicle gets stolen

The advantages aren’t limited to your safety. GPS tracking contributes to the maintenance and diagnostics of your vehicle, especially during an accident. This is mainly because Tesla monitors the location and condition of the vehicle with accurate timings.

Moreover, GPS helps with other features like autopilot and remote access. Also, it lets Tesla know the speed of your vehicle as well as navigation and mapping data.

Commonly Tried Methods That Don’t Work

Here are some ways people often try to turn off their location. However, they don’t get the results they want:

Turning off location from the mobile app

The result of this is often frail. You can’t control your GPS location through your mobile app. Turning off the location of your phone won’t automatically turn off your car’s location. Thus, others with the Tesla app can still locate your Tesla.

A user said that there’s no way to disable tracking from the app. Instead, he suggested that you turn on app access from the car using the account password.

Disabling internet access

Another user mentioned, “The Google maps that are used in the Tesla’s navigation system will no longer appear. Instead, the navigation system will revert to a simple graphic map that is guided only by GPS. But navigation will continue to function”.

However, other functions rely on Internet access, such as software updates, media streaming, and live traffic visualization. Disabling the Internet might hamper all these activities.

FAQ 

We have given you detailed information on how to turn off the Tesla location. Now, let’s move on to some commonly asked question

Conclusion

So, how to turn off the Tesla location? The most common method is to turn off mobile access from the central touchscreen in the car. Also, you can simply rotate or move the map to disable the location. The other method is to disconnect the GPS antenna or use a GPS jammer.

However, the last method comes at the cost of legal actions in some places. So we recommend you assess the pros and cons beforehand. Moreover, keep in mind that turning off your location can often compromise your safety. So, make your decisions carefully. Happy riding!