Stay Secure: Protecting Your Privacy When Using Phone Trackers
Whether you realize it or not you are never really alone. Your smartphone tracker tracks all sorts of information about you your whereabouts, the places you go, how many times you have been there.
Companies and apps track your visits because they make money when they sell this information to target ads to you, based on your phone’s location. Location tracking is also used to enable GPS tracking apps with certain functions, like providing directions from one destination to another.
Below are some tips to help you safeguard your smartphone tracker security and protect your privacy while using a phone tracker.
Stop sharing your location with apps
Not all the apps require your location tracking to work for them properly. Many apps that request your location such as weather or local news apps often work fine without them also. There is no specific reason why such apps need your location tracking details every second. Review the permissions on your phone for the apps in order to have a better control and awareness of what information about you is collected by the companies.
Only give permission that makes sense in the normal world for the phone tracker. A ride sharing app can request location data but in case if a language learning app ask for location data, then it is a big no for them.
Ad tracking
In case of desktop and laptop browsers websites uses cookies to personalize your experience. In case of smartphones tracker companies use your device’s Mobile Advertising Identifier to serve you personalized ads. The ID does not contain personal details about you such as your name or address; it identifies your phone and, based on your app usage, activity, or location, will send relevant advertisements to your device.
By disabling this feature entirely in your privacy settings for phone tracker, you limit the ways companies can tie your activities together and follow your movements across the internet.
Stop Google from tracking your every move
Google almost tracks almost every move in terms of location data. You can easily stop google from collecting your location details by changing your location setting and turning off location history.
Location Services
Mapping apps have almost eliminated the need for asking to anyone for the directions. The mapping apps use the GPS service on your phone tracker to identify your location and provide directions to the destination place. It makes sense to enable location tracking services on your phone tracker for mapping apps, but there are numerous apps with no need to know your location that still request access.
Apple and Google provide allow the users to control location tracking settings and determine which apps can have access to them. Smartphone owners are advised to review their phone’s location tracking settings and only enable them as necessary for use by applications that you approve.
Location Services settings for iPhone can be managed from the settings -> Privacy & Security -> Location Services screen. For Android devices, swipe down on your screen and tap the location icon to configure your device’s location services.
Browser Settings
The mobile browser activity provides a lot of details to the advertisers about you. You will need to change your security settings in order to regain control over your privacy.
Block all cookies: Cookies are created when you visit a site and can be helpful in personalizing your user experience, but they also may be used to collect information on you and serve advertisements. Blocking all cookies will also prevent cross-site location tracking; however, it may also result in a less than acceptable user experience, especially for sites you visit frequently.
Clear browsing history
Mozilla’s free Firefox Focus app is another solid option that erases passwords and browsing history after each session.
Use a VPN
Your online activity is encrypted, and you can hide your location by diverting traffic to multiple servers via a virtual private network.
Disabling location services, managing your mobile apps, limiting ad tracking, and enabling privacy settings in your device’s browser will help mitigate the risks of being tracked or having personal information exposed. However, they will not eliminate these risks. Monetizing user information through advertisements is a successful business model that has worked for companies
0 Comments