Samsung phones may let you see apps tracking your location

Android 16 QPR3 Beta 1 lets you check which apps are accessing your location. Samsung phones may get the feature with future One UI versions.

If you own a Samsung phone, you may know that whenever apps use the camera or microphone, the device notifies you about it by showing camera and microphone icons at the top-right corner of the screen. You can also tap those icons to see which apps are using the camera and microphone.

When apps track your location, Galaxy phones notify you about it too, by showing a location icon in the status bar. However, when you tap it, nothing happens. In other words, it doesn’t show you which apps are checking your location. Well, a fix for this may come with future One UI versions.

Earlier today, Google released the first beta version of Android 16 QPR3 for Tensor-powered Pixel devices. It brings many new features. One among them is the ability to show which applications are tracking your location (via Mishaal Rahman on Android Authority).

When an app accesses your location, the device will show a location icon in a blue pill at the top-right corner of the screen to notify you about it. More importantly, when you tap on it, the OS will bring up a pop-up, showing the apps tracking your location.

android 16 qpr3 location camera microphone location indicator

android 16 qpr3 location camera microphone location indicator expanded

Samsung’s latest version of One UI for Galaxy smartphones and tablets, One UI 8.5, which is currently in the beta stage, is based on Android 16 QPR2, which means that it may not offer the feature to check which apps are accessing your location. That being said, Samsung could adopt this feature for future versions of One UI.

Abid Iqbal Shaik - Writer

First Samsung device: Galaxy S II

I’m a computer science engineer living in Hyderabad, India, who has a keen interest in automobiles and consumer electronics. My journalism career kicked off in 2017 with MySmartPrice where I wrote news, features, buying guides, and explanatory articles about technology among other things, and reviewed many products, including smartphones, tablets, laptops, PC components, smartwatches, audio devices, wearables, and smart home products. Since then, I have worked for 91Mobiles, Apple, and Onsitego, before finally landing on SamMobile.

Phone Android 16 QPR3