Android Location History tracking your every move

ssfc72 · January 24, 2018, 11:34:47 AM

This is an Android news item, so I posted here, instead of the Linux Security Forum.

https://qz.com/1183559/if-youre-using-an-android-phone-google-may-be-tracking-every-move-you-make/

A very good article about what Google is doing when you have enabled Location History.
The article mentions the tests they did with the phones , were with the SIM's removed and using wifi, only.

I expect all this monitoring, would help to drain your phone battery, faster, as well.

Bill

fox · January 24, 2018, 12:58:21 PM

Thanks for posting this, Bill. I have mixed feeling about Google having data on my location history; useful for some apps but in some cases, just extra data for them. My bigger concern is its effect on battery life. For example, even though my new ZTE axon 7 mini phone is setting on ultra power saving mode for the hours between 11 pm and 6 am, my phone is still using 4-5% if its battery life during that period. This is much higher than what my former iPhone 6 used during the night, and I don't even recall giving it special nighttime settings. So what is it doing during those hours that drains the battery? Sending out location information to Google?

ssfc72 · January 24, 2018, 01:13:57 PM

The Location History has to be enabled to be on. It can be shut off, through a setting.
Can you put the phone in airplane mode, for the night, for one evening and then check the battery drain, for that time period?

buster · January 24, 2018, 06:40:51 PM

" It can be shut off, through a setting."

Did this and thanks Bill. Interesting that now with apps I use it keeps suggesting I turn it back on, never indicating that all the apps get location back.

Easy to turn back on for a short while if I ever need it. Otherwise seems a good idea to have it off. (Now the FBI will have to send someone our to follow me.)

Jason · January 24, 2018, 09:05:40 PM

Convenience vs. Security. I have Location turned on for basically one reason. It allows me to use Smart lock which keeps my phone unlocked when I am at home so I don't have to keep entering the PIN to use it. It's convenient.

As far as other apps using it then the one you turned on, I'm pretty sure every app requires Location permissions to use that. In Nougat, it asks you when an app requires permissions when you use that feature. But this is the same with anything. Turn wi-fi on, and other apps can use it (if that's in their permissions). If you're using public wi-fi, google already knows where you are.

Jason · January 24, 2018, 09:09:21 PM

Oh, and you can post Android stuff in the security section if you want, Bill. The entire group that the sections are under has been called Linux & Android for a while now. So anything under it can be used for Linux or Android. Unless members think we should have a separate Android group altogether.

fox · January 25, 2018, 09:00:08 AM

Quote from: ssfc72 on January 24, 2018, 01:13:57 PM
The Location History has to be enabled to be on. It can be shut off, through a setting.
Can you put the phone in airplane mode, for the night, for one evening and then check the battery drain, for that time period?

I turned off location history and went to individual apps and removed location access from most of them. I then put the phone in airplane mode and kept on the extreme energy saving setting. The result was still 6% battery use overnight (11 pm - 6 am). I'm not sure what this phone is doing that causes the level of battery drain that I'm seeing (both overnight and daily with very light use). This interferes with my otherwise enjoyable experience with the ZTE phone.

ssfc72 · January 25, 2018, 10:38:57 AM

OK Mike, I just charged my phone, so tonight I will have the phone on airplane mode, for the same time period as you reported.
I will try and come up with the % battery usage for that period, for my phone.

If my phone battery usage is less, then maybe there is a problem with the battery in your phone.

fox · January 25, 2018, 04:14:20 PM

I am now convinced that there is a battery problem with my phone. It has gotten progressively worse. It was 100% charged at 9 this morning; now down to 30%. I have only used the phone to check email maybe 10 times and to send one text. Prior to today, for the same use, I was burning about 30% of the battery from morning until 11 pm. The phone is going back.

ssfc72 · January 25, 2018, 04:56:34 PM

That's unfortunate, and disappointing.

fox · January 25, 2018, 06:32:11 PM

Yes, very disappointing. I like this phone!

Something might have gone bonkers after I played with the settings last night to turn off location. All of a sudden the following apps were using 14-15% of my battery during this "draining" period: MBN test, settings, video, fpSensorTest, fpTestODM, Dolby, Clock!!!! And I was playing no videos or music! Clock?

What the ...?

I tried fiddling more with the settings, and I am now recharging the phone. (I had to as it was down to 9%.) I'm going to see what happens afterwards, if I'm seeing the same battery depletion, I'll reset back to factory and reinstall my apps. If the big drain continues after that, the phone goes back.

Jason · January 25, 2018, 08:08:38 PM

Don't reinstall all of your apps at once so you can find the source of the problem. It could be an app that is doing it.

fox · January 26, 2018, 09:38:13 AM

Good advice, Jason. I did do a factory reset and afterwards, I installed a few of my most important apps, reset the high energy saver for nighttime, and turned off location for apps I didn't think needed it. The result this morning: 97% of battery left - better than I had ever done. Four hours later and it's now 94%. So things are definitely looking up and if it stays that way I will be keeping this phone.

I wish I knew what I did to make the battery drain so quickly yesterday (and with apps you wouldn't expect doing the draining).

fox · January 26, 2018, 05:09:09 PM

Update: It's 5 pm and the phone is still at 83% charge. I put back all of my most important apps, but not everything that I had on the phone prior to the factory reset. Based on my calculations, it will use 25% of its battery power in a full 24 hour period. This is more like what Bill was getting, and is better by far than I have ever done on this phone. It's even comparable to what I was getting on the iPhone 6.

I wish I knew how to explain what happened yesterday to kill my battery so quickly, or why my battery is now lasting better than it was before the big drain. If there is a moral to the story, it's to try resetting or reinstalling your operating system when things aren't working as they should. On the phone, it wasn't a lot of extra work, even without backing up data.

Jason · January 27, 2018, 01:27:04 AM

You could try each of the apps remaining one a time and see if or when you hit problems. If there really was a problem related to the battery it would be covered under warranty, I would expect. I don't recall if we checked that Mightytext app to make sure there was a lot of users of it (like over 10 K is good) just to make sure there weren't known issues with it or bloatware. It didn't appear to be in your list of consuming apps but that's the only thing I can think that you might have installed that was unusual than your normal apps.