Photo: NY Times
We’re really not surprised at this, but we have to admit, it got us kind of shook. Especially because we use Google Maps all the time. But don’t take our word for it, you can go to your Location History now and see it for yourself.
Every move. Every day. Tracked.
Luckily, there’s a work around the problem to stop it. We did it immediately and thought we should share it in case anyone else wanted to feel less watched while they went about their days. Because that collecting data shit is for the birds.
Of course, Google will argue that tracking this data will help better cater to your own profile, so it knows what to advertise to you and make searches faster and easier. But that’s taking their word for it and giving them the benefit of the doubt.
Of course, we can’t be that gullible, so here’s how you can stop the madness and break away from being track every second of the goddamn day:
In iPhone
1. Drag the tab in the bottom left corner to the right to slide open the menu and then tap “Settings.”
2. Tap “Location History,” then “Location History” again.
3. Check the box next to “Do not store,” then tap the back arrow.
4. Tap “Location Reporting.”
5. Check the box next to “Do not report.”
In Android
1. Drag the tab in the bottom left corner to the right to slide open the menu and then tap “Settings.”
2. Tap “Google location settings.”
3. Under “Location Services,” tap “Google Location Reporting.”
4. Tap “Location Reporting”
5. Slide the toggle to “Off,” then tap the back arrow.
6. Tap “Location History.”
7. Slide the toggle to “Off.”
Everyone knows this might be a temporary fix to a problem that’s not going away (because if they really wanted to track you, they would no matter how many options you check “off”), but at the very least, it should make you feel a little safer.
[Source]