We don’t have any idea of how much we are exposed to this world and how much are we privatized. No information in this world is hidden or privatized. Everyone in this world is being tracked all the time. And you are helping the trackers by sharing your location with them from your devices via several applications that you use every day.
If an app can provide you the information about nearby restaurants and give delivery in your location then yes the application is tracking your location as per to give you the service.
I know that these online commercial apps have become our daily needs and in recent times we can’t think of a life without them. But the major thing we are missing out here is the violation of privacy. And it can turn out to be really harmful to us in the future.
That is why today in this blog I am going discuss how android apps are tracking you and what you can do to stop them. So just sit back and read the whole article till the end.
How Android Apps are tracking you?
You use apps, right? Like Zomato, Swiggy, Uber, and apps to get your food and cab delivered right at your doorstep?
Obviously you do otherwise life you be so much miserable.
Therefore now you have to understand one thing that whenever you are using these apps your mobile automatically turns on the GPS live tracking function in your phone. Without GPS access these applications won’t work.
But here the twist comes in.
Once you are done with your purpose you close the application but run in the background and the GPS function remains turned on. So the app can still track your live active location.
These are making us more vulnerable to malware and trackers which can harm us in several ways. The most important thing is our privacy is getting exposed.
What to do to stop them from tracking you?
Now that you have understood how different applications (which we use daily) are tracking us, the above question might have hit your head.
There are several ways a person can be tracked.
So let us look at some necessary security measures that you can take as per to avoid this problem.
Stop Google from tracking you in all way
Google plays an important role in all this tracking business. There are several board meetings and courtroom meetings to discuss this agenda but Google has nothing to say in all this.
But we all know that applications like Google Maps, Google search engine, and Google Chrome can track our activities on our personal devices (Android or iOS).
And this is ridiculous!
The good news is you can stop Google from tracking you, period. Follow the below steps.
- Go to MyActivity in Google settings from Google.com
- Select the “Activity Controls” option
- Surf through the section and turn off the functions according to your preferences
In this, you will find options like Web and Apps Activity, Location History, Devie Information and many more. You can turn off any function that you want to run on your device.
From here you can just delete all your browsing history and tracking records.
Change your phone’s location settings
You can control your location settings from your mobile device. In the settings section of your phone, you can find the option to disable your live location tracking option.
This tracking feature is located inside the privacy settings by default, and it records and tracks all your daily online activities. This feature is inscribed in the device right at the time manufacture and is known as “Frequent Locations”.
Follow the below steps to disable this function
- Go to the “privacy settings” section
- Select the “Location Services”
- In there choose the “System Services” option
- Now select the “ Significant Locations” option to see your tracking record.
Use the same process to disable your location service option on every operating system (Android or iOS).
Restrict Ad Tracking
Not only applications, but you can also be tracked by several ads that pop up on your device screen every once in a while. But the concept is that you cannot just completely prevent yourself from getting ads.
The process is each ad contains a link that redirects the user to the website of the ad provider. But you
But you can limit the number of Ads displayed. Follow the steps and prevent yourself from ad trackers.
For the iOS operating system
If you are using a device which is powered by the iOS operating system (you rich fella!) then go for the below steps
- Go to your phone settings
- Privacy
- Advertising
- Toggle ”Limit Ad Tracking” to On mode
If you want you can also reset your Advertising ID here.
For the Android operating system
Now if you are using the Android operating system just like me, just follow the below steps and free yourself from ad tracking.
- Go to settings
- Ads
- Toggle “Opt-out of ads personalization” to On mode.
That’s it, now you are good to go.
Use a Private Browser for Surfing Online
Browsers that we use everyday stores our everyday browsing history. And the browser manufacturer can use that browsing history to track your live location.
Sounds dangerous right?
Well, it is.
But don’t worry there is a solution to this problem too. The best way to avoid tracking via web browsers is to use a private browser or surfing in “incognito mode”.
Using a private browser can help you surf through the internet anonymously without recording any browsing history.
Take Control Over The Application’s Permissions
Just like I was saying before, several applications installed on your phone can track your live location to provide their service.
That is why it is recommended to always check the required permissions of the application before installing it.
Some apps ask for permission after getting installed and you can control the application permission authority in your phone settings.
This will make you less vulnerable and less prone to the kind of privacy issue
So Lastly…
We can conclude here that though there are several ways by which applications can track us but there are several solutions to stop these tracking processes.
I think now you might be able to prevent yourself from getting exposed and can protect your privacy. But the problem is most of the people out there don’t know very much about these threats and some of them do not bother.
I would say that don’t follow what others are doing and save yourself from getting all the time. Trust me you don’t want to get tracked 24×7.