Kim Komando: 5 ways to limit your phone’s location tracking - South Bend Tribune

Kim Komando: 5 ways to limit your phone’s location tracking - South Bend Tribune

What an amazing feat of technology that your phone’s GPS lets you instantly search for nearby cafes, get traffic alerts, and find your friends, among countless other location-sensitive tasks. Parents can breathe easier knowing where the kids are located at the tap of a button.

You can bolster your privacy, diminish targeted ads, and even stop your phone from tracking you altogether. Ready to go dark? Here’s how.

Review your location

If you take extra steps, you can prevent iOS and Android from tracking you. Known as “Frequent Locations,” this feature pinpoints your movements, your home, your work, and everything else you permissioned.

If you find this unsettling, here are the basic steps, but depending on your specific model and operating system, the steps may be different.

Turn off location settings on Apple devices:

• Click Settings and select Privacy.

• Select Location Services and scroll down to System Services.

• Choose Significant Locations to see the logged record of where you’ve been and toggle it off. You can also clear your history by clicking Clear History.

To adjust these settings on Android devices:

• Open Settings and scroll down to tap Location.

• At the top, turn Use location off.

• To delete your device’s location cache, tap Delete Location History at the bottom of the screen under Location History

Put a cap on the advertiser tracking

Android and iOS provide built-in options to minimize ad tracking. These tools won’t stop companies from tracking your phone activities, and they won’t limit the number of ads you see. Still, they will allow you to reset your advertising ID and unlink any targeted advertising profiles associated with your gadgets.

Here’s how to limit ad tracking on iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch:

• Go to Settings

• Tap Privacy

• Tap Advertising

• Toggle Limit Ad Tracking to On

To limit ad tracking on Android:

• Go to Settings

• Tap Google

• Tap Ads

• Toggle on Opt out of ads personalization

Stop the mighty Google

Here’s how to turn off web and app activity tracking:

• Sign in to your Google Account

• Click on Data & personalization

• Under Activity Controls, tap Web & App Activity and turn it off

Pausing Location History doesn’t completely turn off Google’s location markers. Although it stops Google from adding your movements to your Timeline, location data is still being saved on your Web and App Activity.

Use a browser that doesn’t track you

Private web browsers include Mozilla’s free Firefox Focus app. This anonymous mobile web browser blocks advertising, analytics and social trackers by default. It also erases passwords and browsing history after each session. Tap or click here to learn more about Firefox Focus.

Alternatively, iPhone users can use the default Safari browser and access a private window for stealthy browsing. Just tap the window icon in the bottom right corner and select Private.

DuckDuckGo is another private search engine, especially popular with my readers, viewers, and listeners. Tap or click here a closer look at a few Google alternatives and see if one is a better fit for you.

Check location and access to your phone’s camera and mic

Before you install apps, read the app’s terms and conditions. I get it, they’re long and tedious, and no one ever reads them. If you’re on Android, at least check the app’s permissions posted on their Google Play page.

It’s good practice to thumb through the app’s permissions on your phone and make sure you are comfortable with certain apps having access to your location, camera, or microphone.

2020-02-03 12:00:00Z
https://www.southbendtribune.com/news/business/kim-komando-ways-to-limit-your-phone-s-location-tracking/article_60764748-42c0-11ea-aec1-4311141ecf80.html

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