How to Prevent Apps from Tracking your Location

Today information tracking your location and movements is coveted by every company. Advertisers want to deliver precisely the right demographic in the right location, retailers want to know what place and stores you visit and also how you move around and how frequently. Location-tracking data can reveal an alarming amount of information about your activity. In a way, you are spied everywhere. It is revealing potentially sensitive details about your life.

Prevent Apps from Tracking your Location

In case it concerns you, you can prevent apps from tracking your location. Let’s find out how to prevent app location tracking on Android or iOS.

How to Cease Location Tracking on an Android Phone

If you own an Android device and want to keep your location untracked entirely, then it’s easy to do.

If you have a Google Pixel 3, go to Settings > Security & location > Location and toggle Use location off.

If you own a Huawei P20 Pro, the process would include Settings > Security & privacy > Location services and toggle off Access to my location.

On a Samsung Galaxy S9 Plus, follow the same process and toggle it off.

These steps will turn off all location tracking. No app will be able to track your movements and access your location.  Although you may still get ads based on your IP address location.

Unfortunately, you may not track your phone if it misses if you turn off the location altogether. Neither you can see nor share your location in Google Maps, nor a few other services and apps can function well.

Preventing Location Tracking on an iPhone

If you have a Pixel, go to Settings > Apps & notifications > Advanced > App permissions > Location.

For a Samsung Galaxy, the process would be Settings > Apps > Menu (three dots at top right) > App permissions > Location.

For a Huawei phone, go to Settings > Apps & notifications > Permissions > Your location.

What about the Location Data Previously Recorded?

As you have already blocked various apps and services from tracking your location going forward, you would be wondering what about those data that has already been tracked earlier?

This too has a solution. In case you have an Android phone, you can ask Google to delete your location history. Just follow that link, ensure you are signed in to your Google account and hit the red Delete Location History button. Just remember this will delete the information for good and you won’t be able to resurrect it.

In case of owning an iPhone, go to Settings > Privacy > Location Services and come down to find System Services > Significant Locations, then tap Clear History at the bottom. As per Apple this information is encrypted and can’t be read by Apple, so deleting this may not be required.

Conclusion

This is how you can prevent apps from tracking your location.