One must understand that their phone knows about their location. Well, this is how GPS really works, how Find My Friends observes and decodes their location, and why you receive local ads on Google Facebook. Furthermore, location data, like other data on your smartphone, is a hot commodity for people marketing on the internet in today’s digital economy and age.
Fortunately, targeted advertising is the most significant enterprise on the internet. Enterprises are eager to serve you with advertisements for products you will likely buy, and that information helps hit the mark. Moreover, some of the companies have even integrated this as their primary business model.
Thankfully, one does not have to stand for such data collection if they are not comfortable. These tactics are also legal since companies behind them choose to opt, but not all know how to track a phone and edit or change the settings. If you are wondering how your data or location is being tracked through GPS, there are some things you need to know.
Tweak your phone’s location settings
You can avoid iOS and Android from checking on you or tracking you, but enterprises do not make it simple. The tool is right inside your devices’ privacy settings, recording your daily routine. So, this can be quite problematic yet effective in different ways.
Referred to as “Frequent Locations,” this keeps track of where one is and how long their stay is. Such an element knows where the target lives and works based on how long they are there and the times you visit.
So, if you find this unsettling, turn the feature off. Here are basic steps, but based on your specific operating system and model, one may follow a different list of instructions.
Turn off the location settings on Apple Devices.
- Click on “Settings.”
- Go to “Privacy settings.”
- Choose “Location Services.”
- Scroll down till “System Services.”
- Opt for “Significant Locations” to check the logged record of where one has been and toggle them off.
You can even clear the history by clicking “Clear History.”
Change the location settings on Android Platforms.
- Open the “Settings.”
- Scroll down and check “Location” or “Advanced” in case you have a work profile.
- When at the top, turn the “Use location option” off.
- To delete the location cache, click on the “Delete Location History” at the bottom under “Location History.”
- Moreover, repeat such a process for every Google Account on your Android smartphone.
Limit ad tracking
Ending the location tracking might sound extreme, which is why you might prefer to battle the ads themselves. Luckily, Android and iOS offer built-in options to limit and minimize ad tracking.
Such tools will not stop companies from tracking phone activities, and they will not limit the ad numbers you see. Moreover, they will allow you to reset the advertising ID and unlink targeted advertising profiles associated with gadgets, devices, or smartphones. Here’s how to track and limit both iOS and Android:
iPhone, iPod Touch, or iPad
- Go to the Settings
- Tap “Privacy option. “
- Tap the “Apple Advertising“
- Toggle through “Personalized Ads” and turn them Off. In addition, you can view your advertisement targeting information here.
Android
- Go to the “Settings“
- Tap on “Google“
- Tap on “Ads”
- Toggle on “Opt-out of ads.”
Stop Google from tracking your every move.
Google services have happened to come under fire for storing the entire location data – even if you have tweaked your privacy settings on your Android or iPhone gadgets. To turn Google’s location off from tracking for good, try the settings mentioned below:
Turn off App and Web Activity:
- Try signing in to your Google Account.
- Post that, Click on “Data & personalization.”
- While you are near the “Activity Controls option,” tap “Web & App Activity” and then turn it off.
Consider different browsers
Since many of you are familiar with browsers that work on private webs, only a few know about web browsers that can allow a user to search through the internet on mobile devices with less tracking. In addition, this is quite handy if you wish to look up a product, for instance, without getting spammed with advertisements for it later.
In mobile devices, you can choose to work on Incognito Mode to stop the software from remembering your activity. If you have been getting in trouble with Google’s location, this guide will help you in several ways.