There is no doubt that the devices and apps on your phone want to know where you are-whether to give you the latest weather updates, make suggestions for restaurants that you might enjoy, or allow you to better target advertisements. To keep track of what you share with others and what you do not share with others, and when, it can become very confusing very quickly.
There is also a possibility that there are inconsistencies in the different location histories logged by your devices: There are some times when you think that you have blocked or turned off Location Sharing on your phone but that you are still tracked, and vice versa.
Location Tracking: How it Becomes Confusing
There is nothing more frustrating than being able to keep finding yourself on a map, even though you distinctly recall turning your location tracking off on a device. You might also have thought that you had left the location history feature on, but you are seeing gaps even though you thought you had? In terms of a few explanations, it is essential to keep in mind all the different ways in which your location can be logged by different devices, apps, and websites that you use during the day: your apps, your devices, and your websites.
A tablet, for instance, might be equipped with a location-tracking feature whereas a phone might have its location-tracking turned off. Another possibility is that your laptop is tracking your location in the background. This is even though you thought you had disabled such a feature in the apps you use. You thought you had disabled it on your laptop. To determine whether or not to enable or turn off location tracking completely, you have to consider all of these different methods of keeping track of your location as well.
Here is an example of how to use your Google account if you have one. On the web, simply go to your account settings, where you will be able to select Data and Privacy, along with Location History. This will reveal some desktop computers, laptops, and tablets whose movement is being saved to your Google account for future reference. Select Devices on This Account to see which phones, tablets, and laptops have been marked with a checkmark.
When you click Turn Off, you will be able to disable this feature, but you should be aware of the caveats that appear onscreen once you have clicked the 'Turn Off' button: Your location will still be logged by your mobile device, by the Find My Device service when you are trying to locate a lost device, and by Google Maps when you are trying to navigate or search around the area in which you are. There is a facility in the Location History settings menu that allows you to toggle between different aspects of your location history. This includes the Google Timeline and the ability to search for places you regularly visit in a matter of seconds.
It is worth noting that there are several other areas where your location is logged and shared from your main Google account screen. A list of specific contacts who can see your location through Google services can be found under Data and Privacy under Web & App Activity, and under People and Sharing under Manage Location Sharing. This allows you to manage location data saved by Google Maps and other applications and websites.
Mobile Location Tracking and Management
Depending on the manufacturer of your Android phone, the steps involved in managing your location will differ slightly. However, the menus and instructions involved will generally be similar regardless of the manufacturer of your phone. In Google Pixel phones, you can open up your Settings app, then select Location: Then you will see a switch that allows you to turn off the use of location, which will prevent any of the apps on your device from knowing your location, as well as Google.
It is also possible to customize location access for individual apps on the same screen if you leave the Use Location toggle switch turned on. If you want to control when apps have access to your location, you can choose to set it to always or only when the app is running in the foreground. The app in the list you choose can be changed by tapping on its name.
To eliminate the location data that has been collected on you, you need to check the history of all the apps that have had access to your location and check the settings of each and every one of them. You can either choose to delete Location History from your Google account on the web or Web & App Activity under Data and Privacy. This is if you want to completely remove such data from your Google account and Google's apps. Moreover, you will also have the option to automatically delete this information after a period of three, eighteen, or thirty-six months.
Apple does not seem to log your movements in quite the same way as Google does, but it does build up a list of places you visit frequently (like your home and maybe your workplace) so you can quickly get back there if necessary. Open the Settings app on your iPhone, and then select Privacy & Security, Location Services, System Services, and Significant Locations to remove any items from this list. If you want to stop the list from populating in the future, you can opt to remove this entry from the list.
On-Desktop Location Tracking
Since your laptop or desktop computer will not be equipped with GPS capabilities, it will not be able to track your location the way your smartphone can, but you can still log into the internet on your computer through the network connections you use to sign in (via your home Wi-Fi, for example). However, the apps, websites, and operating systems will still have a sense of where you are.
Whenever you open up the Settings app on your Windows computer, you can click on Privacy & Security and then choose Location. As with Android and iOS, you will find that you can turn off location tracking for individual applications (via a toggle switch located on the right of the screen) or turn it off for the entire computer (by selecting the top option). By clicking on Clear next to Location History, you will be able to wipe the log of your travels. In this case, you may view which apps have been using your location, as well as see what apps are currently using your location.
There will be settings within every browser that will allow you to control the way your location is accessed by websites. Chrome has a setting called Privacy and Security, Site Settings, and Location which can all be accessed from the settings pane; Edge requires opening the settings pane and choosing Cookies and Site Permissions, then Location; on Safari on MacOS, the setting dialog box must be opened before selecting Websites and Location. No guarantee changing these settings will affect any information that the sites have collected in the past. You will have to find out if this is the case by visiting the settings for individual websites.
