To the displeasure of the big tech companies, no one flight their smartphones to spy on them. By default, however, our mobile devices keep track of all our movements:and share this data with other applications and services. Luckily, as with most things on Android, you don’t need to live with the default settings presented to you. Instead, you can manage location services to suit your privacy settings.
How to turn off location completely on Android
You can turn off location on Android, so that location data isn’t shared with Google or any other application. To do this, swipe down from the top of the screen, and then hold down the Location key (the icon appears as the “location arrow”). If you don’t see the location here, tap “Edit“O”Configuration“, Then drag Location in quick setup.
While this may be the best way to ensure the privacy of your Android location, it’s not particularly convenient. All apps that need location data to work, such as Google Maps, will simply not work with this setting turned off. If you can live with that, you can have an Android experience without location. But for most of us, it is better to play with other location parameters.
How to disable application location permissions
Instead of completely disabling location on Android, it’s probably more useful to manage the permissions of each of your apps. Of course, not all apps are the same, so you’ll probably want to give some apps more access to location and retain them for others.
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Towards Settings> Location> Application Permission. You will see three categories: Allowed all the time, which contains apps that have access to your location whenever they want; It is allowed only in use, which contains applications that can only use your location when those applications are active; i Ask every time, which contains applications that must request permission to use your location each time. Tap any of these categories to view apps with these permissions. To change the permission of a specific application, tap the app, and choose a new option.
Alternatively, you can change the location permissions of applications one by one. Touch and hold the application in question on the home screen of your phone, then tap the (i) button. Choose Permissions> Locationand then choose one of the three categories above or Deny, which will block this application from your location information.
How to turn off location accuracy on Android
Android uses location accuracy to determine your exact location; GPS sensor, wifi, mobile network and phone information is needed to give you location-based suggestions as well as show your exact location on the screen. This may be useful for certain applications, but you may be uncomfortable with Google and its connected applications and services having access to this data.
To turn off location accuracy, go to Settings> Location> Advanced> Google Location Accuracy, disable Improve location accuracy. When you disable this feature, Google will only be able to use GPS to determine your location. It is not completely private, but it is also much less accurate than the default.
How to delete and turn off location history on Android
Location History is exactly how it sounds; Google keeps track of where you go with your smartphone to drive things like recommendations, help you find your phone and real-time traffic updates. For many of us, though, it is a little creepy.
To turn off Location History, go to yours Google Account Activity Controls. Sign in if you are not now… View Location History and Choose “Close.” In the popup window, choose “Pause“, And a new pop-up window will appear. Choose”Delete the old activity“And Google will launch a location history map; here you can see details of all the locations you’ve been to on Google. To delete this information, click the trash can at the bottom right, click the box pop-up selection window and click “DELETE HISTORY OF LOCATION“.
You can also choose to have Google automatically delete your location history after a set period of time. On the Activity Controls page, select the option below Delete automatically, choose the option below Automatically delete activities above aand then choose either 3 months, 18 months, o 36 months. Choose Next to save your choice.
How location sharing is turned off
If you have the location sharing option enabled, but are sorry to share your location with your contact list, you can easily turn off this feature. Open Google Maps, tap your profile icon, and choose Share location. Tap the profile of the contact with whom you do not want to share your location any longer, then tap Stop to be confirmed.
How to turn off location permissions for web browsing
Google gives you controls over which websites have your location information. To disable a website’s location permission, go to this website in the browser. Tap the lock to the left of the address bar, tap Permissions, then turn Location for this website.
Of course, you can turn off location permissions for the entire browser; just follow the instructions above to turn off location permissions for specific apps (in this case, a browser like Chrome or Firefox).