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The protection of privacy and personal data has been a very hot topic lately. Apple is known for his efforts to maintain maximal privacy of its customers, but not Google, for example. Very often, in connection with it or Android, the quality of personal data protection and user privacy is addressed. And now comes another disturbing news.

Some Google applications on iOS Android stores your location history even if you disable it in your settings. Princeton researcher Gunnar A found outcarHe disabled Google Maps from storing his location history in the settings, but his device continued to collect this data.

So it seems that even when this feature is disabled, some Google apps ignore this ban and store data with the user's date, time and location. "For example, Google stores your location the moment you open the Google Maps app. Automatic weather updates on your phoneone"Android also determines your approximate location. Even when searching for something that is completely unrelated to location—like 'chocolate chip cookies'—your data is captured down to the square meter and stored in your Google Account." states Acar.

Although his report focuses only on Android devices, it was found that Google apps work the same on iOSGoogle says its policies for collecting location data are clear, but when you examine them, you'll find they're rather confusing. “There are many different ways Google can use location to improve the user experience. This is, for example, location history, activity on the Internet and in applications or through location services at the level of the device itself. We provide clear descriptions of these tools and sufficient controls for people to turn location data on or off. Of course, they can erase history at any time.” a Google spokesperson said.

Google collects your location data even if this feature is disabled.

In order to prevent Google from really collecting your location data, in addition to turning off the "Location History" function, you also need to disable "Web and App Activity". If you turned off only the first option, Google would simply not be able to compile a timeline of your location. However, the location itself could still be collected.

Google is taking advantage of users' ignorance by disabling "Location History" and the user will see a message saying "None of your Google apps will be able to save location data in Location History". While this is true, it can still save data in the "My Activity" section. This is mainly intended for targeted advertising. The most effective solution if you want to have 100% To be safe, try not to use any Google apps on your device.

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