Approximate location is enough for most tasks

What it is

Weather, content regions, nearby-store lists, language and currency, coarse ad targeting—all work on city- or neighborhood-level coordinates. The default assumption should be that approximate is enough. Precise coordinates are an exception that has to be justified, not "take the highest precision because we can." This entry is about a feature's real precision need. It is not about how the two grades are split into two system asks, and not about whether location should continue after the person leaves the app.

Why it happens

The marginal value of precise coordinates falls fast: sorting stores by district versus by ten meters from the door is almost the same for browsing, and an order of magnitude different for inferring a trail. Always requesting precise usually comes from lazily reusing one location SDK, not from task analysis. Excess precision also binds a feature that could survive a precise denial to a more sensitive switch, widening the failure surface. Minimizing precision is cutting data to what the task needs, not fetching precise first and then saying "we care about privacy" on the UI.

Where it stops holding

Navigation, run tracks, store redemption, find-my-car, and ground-anchored AR fail without meters; "most tasks" must not paper over them. If "approximate" is implemented as drawing a large circle while still storing precise points in the background, collection is still precise. Underground or indoor, even neighborhood-level fixes can vanish; fall back to typing or dropping a pin, do not silently step up to precise.

Applying it

• For every feature that uses location, write the precision it needs: district / neighborhood / meters. Features above meters must not request the precise permission in product code.
• Interfaces that can finish on approximate coordinates should not show a precise blue dot or a street-following trail that implies meter-level collection.
• Upgrade to precise only when that need appears; if the upgrade is refused, stay on approximate for list-like tasks instead of failing the whole page.
• Verify by walking every location-related entry on a device granted approximate only, and listing which tasks still complete. Any call to a precise API from a district-level task is a defect. Confirm from network logs that uploaded coordinate precision matches the claimed grade.

Related

• Within the group: H4.06.1 Precise and approximate location must be requested separately · H4.06.3 Background location needs its own, stronger reason
• Adjacent: O1.02 Data Minimization · H4.02 Purpose Explanation · H4.09 Contacts and Photos Permission
• Search terms: approximate location · data minimization · location precision