In today’s digital age, our smartphones have become an indispensable part of our lives for location tracking. They are our constant companions, helping us stay connected with family and friends, navigate through cities, and even manage our day-to-day tasks. However, with this convenience comes an unseen cost – our privacy. From network providers to apps, our digital footprint is continuously being tracked and collected. Let us go deep into the various ways your phone’s location can be tracked and what you can do to protect your privacy.

Network Provider

Various Network providers like AT&T, Verizon and other equivalent network providers allows you to call, text or use the internet. As a result of this they have extensive data about your phone location and thus they can also track your location history.

Google’s data collection for Android

If you are using an android device with Google Mobile services you can easily check what all data has google collected about you.  One of the major things it includes is your location history including all the places that you have been. In all these cases you have to give the consent for the location tracking. No one can track you without your consent

Google’s data collection for iOS

If you are using an iPhone but still use the Google services such as Chrome, YouTube, Maps on it, Google will still get the phone location history data through these apps. These apps will help them for your location tracking and they can get to know all the places where you have been.

Apps

The most common source for downloading apps is from Android app store or Apple app store.  Apps can access whatever data to which they have been granted permission. The most commonly used permissions are microphone, camera, location tracking, storage etc.  

Most of the apps don’t keep their data to themselves. They share it with advertisers and other third parties such as Facebook, Google etc. Many times, the apps can access the data even though you may have turned off the relevant permission.

You need to be careful about your privacy specifically about location tracking and check if the app is asking for permission that does not make any sense, then it is the time to move on from the app and look for some other alternative

Web Browser

One of the major concerns for the privacy is browsing app which connects you to the internet. Your browser will be accessing all the things to whom you have given the permission. This can include sensitive things such as your location tracking data which can be sent to servers constantly throughout the day.

Browsers can track and store the details of the sites you visit from day-to-day. To minimize the data provided to third-parties, it’s worth looking into those browsers that are a little more privacy-focused.

While you are still tracked excessively through your desktop browser, the data collection through mobile browsers is even more worrying because of how much access mobile browsers can have.

Social media & messaging apps

We have seen how apps can access whatever you give them permission to. Considering that social media and messaging apps tend to ask for a wide variety of permissions, it will be a good idea to know more about their location history data collection practice. These apps have the power to know where you live, where you work, when you go out, and who you spend time with giving them a pretty good idea about your location tracking.

Of course, they all get whatever data you give them and post on these platforms. They also end up with all of the information that your friends post about you as well. While you may be shocked by just how much data these companies have on you, at least once you are aware, you can begin taking the steps to minimize the data collected by them.

Network signals

Your cell phone frequently communicates with your network provider’s closest base stations, even when you aren’t making calls. This gives it a rough idea of where your device is.

The strength of your device’s signal, whether it is stronger or weaker, gives your provider even more information about how far away your cell phone is from a tower. When the signal from multiple towers is combined, it’s possible to narrow down the location even further.

Wi-fi

Just as your network provider can gauge your location history based on where you are in relation to its towers, wi-fi access points also give away where you are. If wi-fi is turned on, your operating system can periodically send the wi-fi access point’s service set identifier (SSID) and media access control (MAC) address to companies like Google. This gives them a rough idea of your location.

Understanding how your phone location history can be tracked by network providers, tech giants like Google, apps, browsers, social media platforms, and even the government is crucial in today’s interconnected world. By being aware of these location tracking methods and taking proactive steps to safeguard your privacy, you can regain some control over your personal information such as location tracking. So, the next time you download an app or use a new service, think twice about the permissions you grant and take a step towards a more secure digital life.