Test if html5 geolocation permission already has been granted

Question

Does anyone know if there is a way to test if prior html5 geolocation permission has been granted?

I try to make a script that does not request the geolocation unless the permission for the page has already been given. Does not nessicerily have to be html5; other frameworks are also ok.

What about storing the result of the original attempt to get the location? — alex, May 18 '12 at 14:24
I never want to be the one that asks for the permission in the first place. Its a 3th party script... — RickyA, May 18 '12 at 14:26
https://stackoverflow.com/questions/16537282/is-there-a-way-of-detecting-whether-a-user-has-already-given-permission-to-use-n — Captain Hypertext, Nov 01 '16 at 14:43

score 11 · Answer 1 · answered Sep 08 '16 at 10:44

11

The first part actually answers your question, at least on Chrome 43+ and Firefox 46+ (see https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/API/Permissions_API):

navigator.permissions &&
navigator.permissions.query({name: 'geolocation'}).then(function(PermissionStatus) {
    if('granted' === PermissionStatus.state) {
        navigator.geolocation.getCurrentPosition(function(geoposition) {
            console.log(geoposition) /* You can use this position without prompting the user if the permission had already been granted */
        })
    }
})

answered Sep 08 '16 at 10:44

Sébastien Fauvel

469
4
5

1

The best answer, but in Safari doesn't work navigator.permissions. Likewise, Thank you! – Carlos Galeano May 01 '19 at 17:11
It seems to be possible in Safari since Version 16.0 (released in Sep 2022). https://caniuse.com/?search=navigator.permissions – yunzen Jul 26 '23 at 12:32

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Sep 24 '15 at 00:42

Best you can do is to keep track of this yourself...

// In chrome you can now do this    
navigator.permissions.query({name: 'geolocation'}).then(function(PermissionStatus){
    console.log(PermissionStatus.state) // prompt, granted, denied
    // even listen for changes
    PermissionStatus.onchange = function(){
        console.log(this.state)
    }
})

fallback method:

// initialization
if( sessionStorage.getItem("geo_access") === null ){
    // just assume it is prompt
    sessionStorage.setItem("geo_access", "prompt");
}

function ask(){
    navigator.geolocation.getCurrentPosition(function(){
        sessionStorage.setItem("geo_access", "granted");

    }, function(err){
        if(err.code == 1){ // PERMISSION_DENIED
            sessionStorage.setItem("geo_access", "denied");
        }
        sessionStorage.setItem("geo_access", "prompt");
    });
};

// Then somewhere
ask();

See second comment at question: I do not have control over the prior (or not) call. — RickyA, Sep 24 '15 at 09:46

score 0 · Accepted Answer · answered May 18 '12 at 14:40

According to the Geolocation API Specification there isn't any function for this. Even the option to save it in the browser preferences isn't pushed to your code.

If it's realy important and you realy have to beeing aware of this, you have to write a browser addon for every common browser and ask the user to install it. But i wouldn't doubt of it.

Test if html5 geolocation permission already has been granted

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