Well, unless you’re careful, your mobile phone and the apps you’ve installed can collect and share your real-time location data for their own use -- and you might not even know about it.
There are certainly times when you probably want to share your location with an app -- like when you’re searching for a nearby store on a map, booking a reservation at a nearby restaurant, or getting the latest weather report. But those apps should only have access to your location at the time you’re actually using them -- not all the time.
Turning off “Always On” tracking is a simple way to make sure that the apps on your mobile device aren’t collecting more information than you want them to know. We recommend switching from “Always On” tracking to “While Using” or “Never,” depending on how much you rely on those apps’ ability to locate you.
If you’re using an iPhone, tap on the Settings app. From the Settings menu, scroll down and tap on the Privacy tab. There, the first option is to change your Location Services setting. Here, you can customize when your apps access your location information. Switch the permissions from “Always” to “While Using,” “Never,” or “Ask Next Time.”
If you’re using an Android phone, tap the Settings app, and then navigate towards the Apps and Notifications tab. Here, you can find a list of the apps on your mobile device. Tap on each app, and navigate to the Permissions tab. If the app uses your location data, you should see a Location option. Switch the Permissions toggle from the on position to the off position.