Google tracks users even if they turn off location history: report

If you thought turning off your location will keep your privacy protected from Google, you are probably wrong as your privacy might still not be protected.

New report has suggested that Google services on Android and iPhone devices store users’ location data and track every move minute-by-minute regardless of them turning their location history off in their privacy settings, said a report by AP.

The report suggested that though the location can be turned off at any time, certain Google apps like Google Maps, browser searches and weather updates still save their time-stamped location data in order to target ads based on users’ particular locations. Turning off Location History, however, will only stop Google from adding user movements to its Timeline feature that visually logs where they’ve been.

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The report also claims that Google ‘stores snapshot of where you are’ whenever the user opens the Google Maps app. The automatic daily weather updates track approximately where the users are. Even Google searches like ‘chocolate chip cookies’ that have nothing to do with location will too inform Google the users’ exact longitude and latitude, wrote The Sun.

Yet, as per The Verge, users can dig in through settings to turn off ‘Web and App Activity’ to actually stop Google from tracking users. The option, which is enabled by default, will no longer be able to store location data and the exact GPS coordinates once turned off. Users can also manually delete the stored location history data by going to myactivity.google.com.

In a statement, Google said, “There are a number of different ways that Google may use location to improve people’s experience, including: Location History, Web and App Activity, and through device-level Location Services. We provide clear descriptions of these tools, and robust controls so people can turn them on or off, and delete their histories at any time.”