Surface Duo has features and capabilities that are enhanced by or depend upon knowing your location and having the ability to search and display information based on your calendar, contacts, and activity.
Location
Surface Duo’s location functionality is provided by Google Location Services. For more info about this service, see the “From Your Devices” section of How Google uses your location information.
When you set up your Surface Duo for the first time, you have the option to allow both Google and Microsoft to determine your location. You need to enable this functionality for Microsoft apps on your Surface Duo to have the ability to use your location information.
How location settings work
The device location setting enables certain Surface Duo features—such as weather reporting—to function properly. Your device’s location may in some cases be determined precisely using the Surface Duo’s Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) feature.
In Settings, you can view which apps have access to the device’s location or location history, choose which apps can have access to the device’s location, or turn off the device’s access to location information.
For apps that you have allowed to use your location, you can choose to allow them to use your precise location or approximate location. If you turn off Use precise location in Settings > Location > App location permissions for a selected app, the app can get your location within an area that’s about 3 square kilometers (about 1.15 square miles).
Even when you’ve turned off the device location settings, some apps and services could use other technologies (such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, cellular modem, etc.) to determine your device’s location with varying degrees of accuracy. To further reduce the risk that an app or service can determine your location when your Surface Duo location settings are turned off, you should only install apps and services from trusted sources.
To facilitate getting help in an emergency, whenever you make an emergency call, Surface Duo will attempt to determine and share your precise location, regardless of your location settings. In addition, your mobile operator will have access to your device’s location if your device has a SIM card or is otherwise using a cellular service.
