Even if you have ‘Location History’ turned off, Google will often store your exact location.
Here’s how to get rid of those logs and other best practices that keep your site as private as possible.
But there is no problem, because just connecting to the Internet on any device shows an IP address that can be mapped in different ways.
Cell phones also connect to cell towers, so your carrier knows where you are at all times.
Block tracking on any device
Open your browser and go to myactivity.google.com. You must be logged into Google.
In the left-hand menu, go to ‘Action Controls.’ Turn off both ‘Web & App Activity’ and ‘Location History.’
This should prevent real-time location logs from being saved to your Google account.
Google warns you that some of its features will not work if this update is turned off.
In particular, even Google Assistant, a digital concierge, or a Google Home smart speaker may not be very helpful.
On iOS
If you use Google Maps, change your location to ‘Where You Are Using’ the app. This will prevent the app from accessing your location when it is not running.
Go to Location Privacy Settings and from there select Google Maps to change it.
In the Safari browser, consider using a search engine other than Google.
Under Settings Safari Search Engine, you can find alternatives like Bing or DuckDuckGo.
You can turn off location while browsing by going to Safari Websites Location Privacy Settings, and changing this to ‘Never.’
This will prevent advertisers from knowing where you are located based on the IP address of each website.
You can also turn off Location Services for the device almost entirely from Settings Privacy Location Services.
Both Google Maps and Apple Maps will still work, but they won’t know where you are on the map and won’t be able to give you directions.
Emergency responders will be able to reach you if needed.
On Android
Under the main settings icon click on ‘Security & location.’ Scroll down under the ‘Privacy’ heading. Click ‘Location.’ You can disable it on the whole device.
Use ‘app permissions’ to disable the use of different apps.
Unlike the iPhone, there are no ‘While Using’ settings.
You can’t turn off Google Play services, which give your space to other apps if you leave the service.
Sign in as a ‘guest’ on your Android device by swiping from the top and clicking the down arrow, then on the torso icon.
Find out which services you log into, such as Chrome. You can also change the search engine even in Chrome.
Remove previous location tracking from any device
On the page myactivity.google.comlook for anything that has a placeholder next to the word ‘more.’
Clicking that pops up a window with a link that sometimes says ‘From your location.’
Clicking it will open Google Maps, which will show where you were at that time.
You can remove it from the popup by clicking the navigation icon with three stacked dots and then ‘Remove.’
Some things are placed in unexpected places, such as the names of topics, google.com, Search, or Maps.
You have to eliminate them item by item. You can remove all items from dates or jobs, but eventually you will remove the location markers.
