8 ways your phone is tracking you - That you can stop now
You understand that your phone knows where you’re located. This is how GPS works, how Find My sees your location and why you get local ads on Facebook and Google. Like other data on your phone, that location data is a hot commodity for internet marketers.
Thankfully, you don’t have to stand for this kind of data collection. These tactics are legal because the companies behind them give you a choice to opt in or out, but not everyone knows how to change the settings. We’ll show you how to stop your phone from tracking you. Ready to go dark? Let’s get started.
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1. Tweak your phone’s location settings
You can prevent iOS and Android from tracking you, but companies don’t make it easy. The feature is buried inside your device’s privacy settings and, by default, records your daily routine.
Known as “Frequent Locations,” it keeps track of where you are and how long you stay there. It even knows where you live and work based on how long you’re there and when you visit.
If you find this unsettling, you can turn the feature off. Here are the basic steps, but depending on your specific model and operating system, you may need to follow different instructions.
Turn off location settings on Apple devices
- Open Settings.
- Tap Privacy & Security.
- Select Location Services.
- Scroll down and tap System Services.
- Choose Significant Locations to see the logged record of where you’ve been and toggle it off.
You can also clear your history here by clicking Clear History.
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