How to stop Google from tracking you

[fox]

Unless you turn off certain settings, Google is tracking your locations through your use of its apps, and you can even see a history of where you've been. In my case, I was surprised about how much of my movements had been tracked. It tracked me to all of the airports I landed in this summer, even Baker Lake, Nunavut, except for two northern airports where I made brief stops and didn't use my phone. In Alberta, it tracked me even to places I went to for mountain hikes. We recently did a trip in the southwestern USA, and it recorded every park and motel stop, probably through a combination of Google Maps and Google Photos. Interesting on one hand, scary on the other to know that some company knows of your every move.

If you don't want your movements to be tracked by Google, this article will tell you how to turn tracking off from your computer or phone.

[Jason]

Good article. It hasn't been tracking me for a while since I had all of that off. But Google should be more clear about what it's doing certainly.

I also recommend you use the Privacy Check-up in your Account area that Google provides and take some time to go through all the settings there. There's 6 different areas to go though. It doesn't take that long but I recommend you go through it carefully using the Learn More links to see what data is captured specifically and how it is used. If you do this, you'll see under Web & App Activity, the info about it using location activity though it doesn't really mention that it keeps track of a history of locations (i.e. movements).

Honestly, privacy wise, it would be better if everything was turned off until you were explicitly asked to enable it. I know it does this with Location but I don't think it tells you that it is keeping a history when it does that. I have Location on my phone all the time but I have Location History (and the appropriate app setting) off. So I can still benefit from using Location for various apps without it being stored. It is kind of creepy.