Security

How to Stop Your Android Phone From Tracking Your Location

Have you ever browsed through your Google Photo Album and realized that your image’s locations were noted on the image? It didn’t matter if you were halfway around the world, or in your very own town, Google seemed to know exactly where you were.

It’s all due to location tracking, a feature that takes advantage of your smartphone’s internal GPS (as well as other sensors) and follows where you roam. It uses this information in different ways. It may tag your photos, but it can also be used in different app services, like Google Maps, Waze, or Uber. These apps would have requested location access through app permissions when first installed.

If you aren’t a fan of that idea, it is possible to turn off location tracking – just remember that when you turn it off, it may affect the way certain apps (including Google Now) function.

What’s Location History?

Location reporting and location history are both turned off until you turn it on, like when Google Maps asks you if you want it to store a location, such as “home.” Location reporting is an option on each one of your devices.

“Location History,” according to Google, “helps you get useful information – for example, automatic commute predictions, improved search results – by creating a private map of where you go with your logged-in devices.”

You do have control over your location history; you can get rid of certain days, you can edit your locations, and you can delete the whole thing entirely. Switch it off or leave it on, the choice is yours.

Turning off Location Reporting

Search through your app drawer and look for “Settings.” From there, find “Location,” which could be a tab under the “Personal” category. Depending on the make of your phone, it could be somewhere else. Once you find it, there will be a tab that toggles the on and off options for location.

Next, scroll down within the same page until you see “Google Location History.” Turn it off for your Google accounts and click the tab to turn it off on your specific device.

You can even delete your entire location history which is a gray bar located at the bottom of the page.

PSafe Newsroom

The dfndr blog is an informative channel that presents exclusive content on security and privacy in the mobile and business world, with tips to keep users protected. Populated by a select group of expert reporters, the channel has a partnership with dfndr lab's security team. Together they bring you, first-notice news about attacks, scams, internet vulnerabilities, malware and everything affecting cybersecurity.