Turn on Airplane Mode. A simple way to prevent people to know your location temporarily is by turning on airplane mode. It is a built-in feature that is available in almost all types of mobile phones. Do note that airplane mode will also prevent any notification and use of cellular networks, phone calls, or messages.

To mask your movement in 2026 without disabling GPS (which can break weather or map apps), the most effective way is to share your location from a different device. On an iPhone, go to Find My > Me and select "Use This iPad as My Location" while leaving that iPad at home. A supportive peer "privacy" trick: you can also use a VPN with a "GPS Spoofing" feature, which overrides your phone's coordinates to a different city. Alternatively, on Android, you can enable "Developer Options" and use a "Mock Location" app. These methods keep your "Location Services" toggled ON—meaning the phone won't alert others that you've "stopped sharing"—while the blue dot they see is actually miles away from your real position.