Just realized my phone was tracking my location even with GPS off

I was at a coffee shop in Portland last week and noticed a targeted ad for a bookstore I had literally just walked past. That got me thinking... so I checked my phone settings and found out my location history was still on, even though I thought I had GPS toggled off. Turns out apps use WiFi and Bluetooth to track you too. I turned off something called "precise location" for every app that didn't need it. Also went into Google Maps and deleted my entire timeline from the last 3 years. It was creepy seeing every single place I'd been mapped out like that. Has anyone else caught their phone doing this?

2 comments

2 Comments

robert_roberts2d ago

Did you see that article about phones pinging cell towers even in airplane mode?

cole_hall1d ago

That 2015 study about Google phones still checking in freaked me out enough to ditch my old beliefs.