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Tesla allows you to track your vehicle’s location with directions, or follow its movement on a map. The ability to view your Tesla’s location via the mobile app can come in handy for many reasons.
It’s perfect if the car is ever stolen, or if you want to make sure your teenager isn’t going anywhere they shouldn’t, or if you need to find someone who’s gone missing.
But location sharing could certainly be undesirable in other situations as well. Anyone who shares your Tesla account with you–even if they are listed as secondary–will be able to view the Tesla’s location at any time via the app.
Can I hide my location in my Tesla?
Well, yes and no. There isn’t actually a way to turn off location sharing in the mobile app. Fortunately, you can still work around this. Here’s how to do it:
Turn off mobile access
It’s mobile access that allows other users to see your location. That could include anyone sharing your account, or potentially someone that’s hacked into it. So shutting down mobile access will do the trick. Here’s how to turn off mobile access in the latest 2022 software update:
- Access the touchscreen on the center console.
- Go to the car icon to enter Settings.
- Select Safety & Security.
- Choose the option to turn off Mobile Access.
- A pop-up will prompt you to sign in to your Tesla account with your email address and password.
Disable Bluetooth
This would effectively function the same as turning off mobile access, but another way is to simply disconnect the Bluetooth in the vehicle. To turn your Tesla’s Bluetooth off:
- Select the Bluetooth symbol from the center touchscreen in the car.
- A pop-up window will open.
- Select “disconnect.”
It might not be ideal for you to lose mobile access since you’ll lose a lot of functionality. But as of now, this is the trade-off if you want to prevent sharing your location with others.
How do I remove my work location from Tesla?
Tesla’s center console continuously displays a map. You can find the “work” location under the map’s search bar. To add or remove a work location, touch and hold the “Work” icon from the map for a couple of seconds.
An option labeled “Clear work” will pop up. Once you’ve selected the “clear work” option, a work address will no longer be saved in the navigation system.
Valet Mode
If you don’t want to get rid of your work address permanently and you only want to temporarily prevent another driver from accessing it, you can also enact Valet Mode. Valet Mode is a driver profile that protects your car while someone you don’t fully trust is driving it, for example, a valet driver or a teen driver. One of the many features of Tesla’s Valet Mode is that home and work locations will not display in the navigation system while activated.
Why would you want to not share location in a Tesla?
There are plenty of reasons why you might not want to share your location in your Tesla. For one thing, many people don’t like their phones tracking their locations at all. Being tracked can be pretty creepy.
Ideally though, only trusted members of your household would even have access to your location via your shared account. But there’s always a chance someone can hack into it and stalk you. If you have reason to believe you’re in such a situation, hiding your location is a vital concern.
On a less serious note, maybe you just want to buy your kid or spouse a present from their favorite store. It might ruin the surprise if they happen to see you at FAO Schwartz or Tiffany’s.
If you want to know why a member of your household is keeping their location private from you while they’re away, they might be hiding something. It’s entirely possible they are up to no good, like your teenager going to a wild party when they said they would be at their friend’s place, or a cheating spouse. Here’s hoping they’re just buying you a present!
Final Thoughts
It’s a bit unfortunate you can’t simply select a setting that would allow your location to remain private, or at least pick and choose who else on your account can view it. Maybe Tesla will come out with that function someday, but until then, there is at least a basic way to hide your location.
