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“Where are you now?” and “What's your ETA?” Whether you’re heading to a party or meeting up for dinner, you probably hear questions like this pretty often from family and friends. Soon Google Maps users worldwide will be able to answer those questions in just a few taps, without ever leaving the app. On both Android and iOS, you’ll be able to share your real-time location with anyone. And the people you share with will be able to see your location on Android, iPhone, mobile web, and even desktop. Here's how it works in a real-world scenario:
Whenever you want to let someone know where you are, just open the side menu or tap the blue dot that represents where you are. Tap “Share location” and then select who to share with and how long to share—and you're done! You can share your real-time location with your Google contacts, or even share with friends and family by sending a link on your favorite messenger apps. When you’re sharing your location, the people you’ve chosen to share with will see you on their map. And you’ll see an icon above the compass on your own map reminding you that you’re actively sharing your location. You can change your mind and stop sharing at any time—it’s entirely up to you.
Next time you’re on your way or running late, you can share your real-time location and trip progress from navigation as well. During your next trip, tap the “More” button on the bottom on the navigation screen, and then tap “Share trip.” When you share your trip with people, they’ll see your expected arrival time and can follow your journey as you head toward your destination. Sharing automatically ends when you arrive.
Location sharing on Google Maps is rolling out soon worldwide, and you’ll be able to quickly let your friends and family know where you are and when you’ll get where you’re going. The answer to “where are you?” is only a tap away. Published Thu, Apr 25 2019 12:12 PM EDTUpdated Thu, Apr 25 2019 12:40 PM EDT
Google knows a lot about you and, if you use Google Maps or other Google apps, it stores a copy of everywhere you go. I recently performed Google's "Privacy Checkup" to learn a bit more about what it knows about me, and was pretty surprised at the level of detail it had on my exact locations. I picked a random date: April 16, 2019. It knew everywhere I went, including that I took Interstate 95 to our office in northern New Jersey and that I arrived at 7:58 a.m. It knew that at 1:02 p.m. I drove to Jersey City and took a train in to Manhattan to the New York Stock Exchange before returning home at 4:38 p.m. And it has a copy of the pictures I took at each location. It's a creepy level of detail. Google says it uses location history to "create a private map of where you go with your signed-in devices even when you aren't using a specific Google service." It also says the "map is only visible to you." The data, it says, provides "improved map searches and commute routes, as well as helping you to rediscover the places you've been and the routes you've traveled." I don't really care about that information. I know the roads I drove on April 16, and I can't see any reason why Google should store it, even if it's only for my use. I never know who might be able to access that data, even if Google promises it's private. You can stop Google from storing your location history and delete what it has already stored. Here's how. Google keeps a creepy amount of information on where you've been. Todd Haselton | CNBC
To delete your history, do this:
Turn off the option that allows Google to track your location history. Todd Haselton | CNBC That's not it, though. Google will continue tracking your location unless you also turn off a separate "Web & App Activity" tracker. Google says it tracks your location from apps to provide "better recommendations, and more personalized experiences in Maps, Search, and other Google services." Turn off the option that allows Google to track your web and app activity. Todd Haselton | CNBC Subscribe to CNBC on YouTube. Watch our live stream for all you need to know to invest smarter. Try some simple steps, like showing the location or locking the screen, to help you secure it
Location tracking can be very handy — it’s convenient when an app can tell you, say, where the nearby restaurants or gas stations are — but it’s also a privacy issue. Do you want all your wanderings registered by Google? Are you comfortable knowing that Mark Zuckerberg’s minions know where you are at all times? (Well, not that Mark Zuckerberg has minions, but you know what I mean.) In this article, we’ll take a look at how to stop location tracking on your Android phone (and your Google account) and how to delete your location history from your OS and from some of the more popular apps. As always, note that versions of Android can differ, and many manufacturers use overlays as well, which can change the locations of various commands — but they should be similar enough for you to be able to find your way. For these instructions, I’ve used a Pixel 6 phone running Android 12, but I’ve included some directions for those with earlier versions of Android. Stop Google from tracking you, period.You probably know that Google can track your location and movements through its Google Maps app. But you may not realize that your Android phone is also tracking your movements and activities through several other built-in apps. If you really don’t want your phone to be tracking any of your movements and activities, there is a way to turn tracking off for all (well, most) of them. You just need to be aware that you’re probably going to render many of your apps (such as ride-share apps, weather apps, and, of course, mapping apps) less usable — or in some cases, completely unusable. Stop Google tracking using a browserFirst, we’re going to stop Google from saving your data.
Okay — you’ve now prevented any more data from being gathered. But you may want to delete all or some of the information that’s already been collected.
Incidentally, if you want to make sure that nobody but you can delete your histories, then select the “Manage activity” link under each category in Activity Controls, and look for “Manage My Activity verification.” If you enable that feature, Google will ask for a password any time you want to look at or delete any history in your account. And if you don’t want to worry about manually deleting your stuff, you can enable auto-delete in each category (you’ll see the option within each category on the Activity Controls page). You’ll have the option to automatically delete your activity after either three, 18, or 36 months. Stop Google tracking on an Android device
Turn location tracking on and off from the Quick Settings trayIf you want to be able to turn location tracking on or off as you need it, you can do that, too. One way to arrange this is to use the Quick Settings tray (which is what you see when you swipe down from the top of your screen). The tray holds a variety of icons for the most often-used Android features; there is a “Location” icon that lets you toggle the location feature on and off.
You’ll now be able to quickly swipe down from the top of your screen and toggle Location on and off — for example, if you want to use Google Maps for directions, you can toggle Location on, and then turn it back off when you’re finished.
Stop location tracking on Android devicesIf you don’t feel the need to block Google from recording all your activities, and simply want to stop the phone from recording your location, it’s easy to do — as long as you pay attention to the details:
You’d think that would be it, wouldn’t you? But you’d be wrong. What is meant by “Use location” in Android depends on which sensors are following the location of the device: besides GPS, it could be Wi-Fi, mobile networks, or other sensors. So before you leave this page, look a little further down. If you’re using Android 12, look for the “Location services” button, otherwise, look for the “Advanced” button and tap on that. Either way, you’ll have several categories that you can toggle on or off. These can be (depending on your Android version and your phone’s manufacturer):
If you can’t see these last two, go back to the Location page and look for a “Wi-Fi and Bluetooth scanning” link.
Disable location tracking for any specific appYou can find out which apps actually use location tracking and just disable it for those that you feel don’t need it.
Sometimes when you turn off permissions in the Android Settings, the app itself will continually try to get you to restore that permission. It’s irritating, but unless the app lets you say, “No, leave me alone,” you will either have to live with it or get a different app.
Delete your location historyWhile you can turn off location tracking from your Android phone’s settings, once a service has collected your location info, getting rid of that history takes a little work. If you want to delete your location history, the first place you need to go is Google; after that, apps that collect this information include Facebook and Twitter. Delete your Google location history on AndroidWhile you can delete location history collected for your Google timeline in the My Activity area (see above), you can also get rid of it easily in Google Maps.
Delete your Google location history on a browser
Delete your location history on FacebookFacebook does keep a separate history of your locations, and if you want to delete that history, you can do it through the mobile app or the browser. Using the Android app
Using a browser
Delete your location history on TwitterTwitter makes it relatively simple to turn off its location tracking within the Android app.
You can delete your Twitter location history as well, but only from your browser.
Uncheck “Add location information to your Tweets.” Then click on “Delete all location information.” And if it asks: yes, you are sure. Update August 25th, 2020, 2:37PM ET: This article was originally published on April 12th, 2019; it has been updated to include the update from Android 9 to Android 10, along with changes to various web-based applications. Update November 30th, 2021, 3:55PM ET: Updated to reflect changes in the Android operating system and in Google, Facebook, and Twitter apps. |