Hi @Chicken!
Thanks for your questions.
I've done some testing, and it seems like despite turning off the 'Zoom To' action in the Search widget, Map widget and Near Me widget, the map zooms in when a new result is added to the Near Me widget.
I configured my app so that the results of my Search widget automatically become the input for the Near Me widget- I assume this is what you did based on your description.
I did find one way to restrict the map from zooming. If you configure the scale range for the Map widget, you can set the minimum and maximum to the same value. This locks the extent to the same scale, which prevents it from changing with the Near Me widget! Below is a screen capture to show where the setting is located:
As for your second question, I don't think you can set a location for the Near Me widget without having a map open because the Near Me widget interacts with a Map widget. You need to select a Map widget in order to configure your Near Me widget.
If you could provide me with some additional details about your app configuration, I'm happy to keep looking into this.
Cheers,
Alex