If iPhone tracking for apps is turned off in settings. Do you need to worry about new TikTok update and tracking location

1. What “tracking turned off” covers and what it doesn’t

On iPhones there are two different controls that users commonly mean by “tracking turned off”: the App Tracking Transparency toggle that blocks apps from asking to share an advertising identifier across apps, and the Location Services/precise location permissions that control GPS access; blocking tracking via the ATT setting limits cross‑app ad targeting but does not prevent an app from collecting or inferring location if location permissions remain granted or if the app uses network signals (ATT specifics are not described in the sources provided, so this distinction is noted as context rather than cited from the supplied material).

2. How TikTok can still know where a device is when GPS is off

Multiple practical guides and VPN providers report that even with GPS/location disabled for the TikTok app, the service can detect approximate location from the device’s IP address and the SIM/carrier region, meaning the app will often still know a broad geographic area such as country or city based on the network path or mobile network metadata ^{[1] [2]}. Security and region‑change guides therefore advise that turning off GPS simply forces TikTok to rely on IP‑level signals, which are less precise and can sometimes point to an ISP hub rather than the exact street ^[2].

3. New app updates: fear, facts, and limits of the reporting

There is no specific sourced evidence here that a “new TikTok update” adds secret, more invasive location collection beyond the established signals identified by guides; the reporting in the supplied sources focuses on the existing mix of GPS, IP and carrier signals and on user steps (like clearing cache or using VPNs) rather than on a newly introduced background‑tracking capability (the sources describe behavior and workarounds like cache clearing and VPN use but do not document an update change) ^{[3] [4] [2]}. Therefore, concern about a generic app update should be calibrated: if location permissions are denied, TikTok loses precise GPS, but network‑based inferences and account history still provide location signals unless other mitigations (VPN, SIM change, etc.) are used ^{[1] [2]}.

4. Practical steps that actually affect what TikTok can see

The most effective immediate control is to set TikTok’s Location permission to “Never” or turn off Location Services for the app to cut the GPS signal, which the how‑to guides explicitly recommend ^[3]. Using a VPN can change the IP‑level signal TikTok receives and is recommended by VPN providers as a complement to disabling GPS, though guides warn the recommendation is not foolproof and algorithms and cache/history will still influence content and apparent region ^{[4] [2]}. Clearing the app cache when changing region is another practical step that guides recommend to remove stored signals that nudge the algorithm toward a prior location or content set ^[3].

5. Risk assessment and final verdict

If the concern is precise, continuous GPS tracking, denying TikTok location permission on an iPhone largely addresses that specific threat because the app cannot access device GPS without consent; however, if the concern is about TikTok knowing an approximate location or serving region‑targeted content and ads, then users still need to consider IP/SIM‑based inference and cached signals and thus should combine location denial with network‑level measures or account‑level cleanup for stronger obscuration ^{[3] [1] [4] [2]}. The supplied sources do not document any secret new update that magically bypasses iPhone location controls, so the pragmatic conclusion from these guides and VPN advisories is: turn off TikTok location, consider a VPN or SIM change for stronger IP masking, and clear cache if changing region — these are the measures that affect what location signals TikTok can actually use ^{[3] [1] [4] [2]}.