(It’s possible, although laborious, to delete it.)įor example, Google stores a snapshot of where you are when you merely open its Maps app. Even with Location History paused, some Google apps automatically store time-stamped location data without asking. With Location History off, the places you go are no longer stored. Google’s support page on the subject states: “You can turn off Location History at any time. Google says that will prevent the company from remembering where you’ve been. So the company lets you “pause” a setting called Location History. Storing your minute-by-minute travels carries privacy risks and has been used by police to determine the location of suspects - such as a warrant that police in Raleigh, North Carolina, served on Google last year to find devices near a murder scene. Turns out, as AP News reports, that we were wrong to think that: If you’re using a phone and have a cellular connection, there’s no way to avoid this.Ĭellular carriers have been found selling this location data to shady third-party companies, but have promised to stop.You would think that telling Google that you didn’t want your location be tracked by disabling an option called “Location History” would stop the internet giant from errr. This works through triangulation-by measuring the relative signal strengths of your phone to three different cellular towers, your carrier can have a pretty good idea of where your phone is relative to all through towers. Your cellular carrier can determine your rough location. RELATED: Why iPhone and iPad Apps Are Asking to Use Bluetooth Cell Towers You can check which apps already have access to your phone’s Bluetooth radio by heading to Settings > Privacy > Bluetooth. Think carefully before giving Bluetooth access to apps that request it, as those apps could use it for tracking your phone’s location when you’re near such beacons. For example, they could be used to track the movements of shoppers in a shopping mall, gathering a lot of data that for targeting advertisements. Nearby Bluetooth beacons can also be used for tracking you as you move around. RELATED: How to See Exactly Where a Photo Was Taken (and Keep Your Location Private) Bluetooth Tracking Beacons From the Photos app, tap the Share button, tap “Options” at the top of the sharing screen, and disable the “Location” option. You can also just remove location data while sharing a photo. You can stop the iPhone’s Camera from saving location information in the photos you take.

Google tracker location