Last Updated on August 14, 2018 by Larious

Google is pretty clear about gathering location information of its users and for the privateness cautious, the corporate even gives the choice to turn off location history in case they don’t need the company to keep a report of their whereabouts.

Nonetheless, based on current findings made by the Associated Press, a variety of Google services on each Android and iOS gadgets store the person’s location data even when they’ve turned off location history.

In an in depth report, AP reveals that although the company particularly provides its users the selection to turn off location history, it nonetheless collects some location information, with computer science researchers from Princeton backing the publication’s claims.

Google claims that when the location history setting is turned off, the company doesn’t store location information for the user. The company’s assist web page on the topic states: “You can turn off Location History at any time. With Location History off, the locations you go are not saved.” Nonetheless, that’s not the case. Because the publication states, even with location history turned off, just a few Google apps automatically store time-stamped location information with out asking for the person’s specific consent.

The report states:

“For instance, Google stores a snapshot of the place you’re if you merely open its Maps app. Automated day by day climate updates on Android phones pinpoint roughly the place you’re. And a few searches that don’t have anything to do with location, like “chocolate chip cookies,” or “children science kits,” pinpoint your exact latitude and longitude – correct to the sq. foot – and save it to your Google account.”

The problem affects almost two billion Android users and a whole lot of thousands and thousands of iOS users worldwide, particularly those that depend on Google Maps and Search. Whereas Jonathan Mayer, Princeton computer scientist and former chief technologist for the FCC’s enforcement bureau, claims that storing location data in violation of a user’s preference is improper, Google has denied any wrongdoing. A Google spokesperson was quoted as saying:

“There are a variety of various ways in which Google could use location to enhance folks’s expertise, together with: Location History, Internet and App Activity, and thru device-level Location Providers. We offer clear descriptions of those tools, and strong controls so folks can turn them on or off, and delete their histories at any time.”

With a view to stop Google from gathering location information even when Location History is turned off, you’ll need to dig via Google’s settings and switch off ‘Web and App Activity’.

So long as the ‘Web and App Activity’ setting is enabled, the company will be able to store your time-stamped location information. In case you want to delete the info saved by the company so far, you may head on to this link and delete all location stamped entries displayed there.