You're scrolling through your photo gallery when something unsettling catches your eye—that picture you took last week shows not just the sunset, but also a map pinpointing exactly where you stood when you captured it. Later, you notice an ad for a store you walked past yesterday. Your weather app somehow knows you're at work without you telling it. A friend comments, "I saw you were at that coffee shop on Main Street"—but you never posted about it.

Welcome to the reality of 2025: your phone knows where you've been, where you are, and increasingly, where you're going. It tracks your movements 24/7, building a detailed map of your daily life, storing this data for months or years, and sharing it with apps, advertisers, and data brokers you've never heard of.

The unsettling part? You probably gave permission for all of this without realizing it. That innocent tap on "Allow" when you first opened an app, the "Accept All" you clicked through without reading—these moments gave dozens of apps permission to track your every move.

But here's the empowering truth: you can stop this. With a few critical settings changes, you can dramatically reduce or eliminate the tracking that's currently happening in your pocket. Let's fix this right now.

The One Setting That Matters Most

If you do nothing else after reading this article, change this one setting:

iPhone Users: Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services → Scroll through every single app

Change any app that says "Always" to either "While Using the App" or "Never"

Android Users: Settings → Location → App permissions (or App location permissions)

Change any app that says "Allow all the time" to either "Allow only while using the app" or "Don't allow"

This single action stops the most egregious tracking—apps monitoring your location even when you're not using them.

Why This Matters:

"Always" or "Allow all the time" permission means apps can track you 24/7. They know when you leave home, where you work, what stores you visit, how long you stay, what routes you take, who you meet (if their phone is trackable), and can build detailed profiles of your habits, routines, and relationships.

Apps don't need this level of access. Even navigation apps only need location "while using"—when you open Google Maps to navigate, it can access your location; when Maps is closed, it can't. That's exactly how it should work.

The Apps Secretly Tracking You

Most people would guess that 5-10 apps have location access. The reality? The average smartphone has given location permission to 20-40 apps. Let's identify the worst offenders:

Social Media Apps (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat)

These apps claim they need location to show you local content, tag locations in posts, and connect you with nearby friends. What they actually do:

• Track everywhere you go to build advertising profiles
• Infer your home and work locations
• Determine your income level based on neighborhoods you frequent
• Identify relationship status based on locations visited with others
• Sell this data to brokers and use it for targeted advertising

What to do: Set to "While Using the App" or "Never." You can still manually add locations to posts if desired.

Shopping and Food Delivery Apps

These apps argue they need your location to show nearby restaurants, stores, or delivery availability. Reality:

• They track your shopping patterns across competitors
• Build profiles of your spending habits and income
• Monitor when you're near competitors to send targeted offers
• Share data with parent companies and partners

What to do: Set to "While Using the App." They'll get your location when you're actively ordering or shopping, but won't track your movements otherwise.

Weather Apps

The most absurd overreach. Weather apps claim they need constant location access to provide accurate forecasts. This is nonsense—weather doesn't change based on whether you move 2 miles.

What to do: Set to "Never" and manually enter your city, or use "While Using the App" so they get location only when you open the app.

Games

Many games request location for absolutely no legitimate reason—they simply collect data to sell or show location-based ads.

What to do: Set to "Never" for almost all games. The rare exceptions are games like Pokémon GO where location is core gameplay.

Flashlight and Utility Apps

If your flashlight app wants location access, delete it immediately and use your phone's built-in flashlight. Same for calculator apps, note-taking apps, or any utility requesting location without obvious need.

What to do: Delete these apps and use built-in alternatives or choose apps that don't request location.

Beyond Location: Other Tracking to Disable

Location is the most invasive tracking, but not the only kind:

Advertising Tracking

Your phone has an advertising identifier that apps use to track your behavior across different apps and websites, building profiles to target ads.

iPhone: Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking → Disable "Allow Apps to Request to Track"

Then scroll down and disable tracking for any apps that already have permission.

Also: Settings → Privacy & Security → Apple Advertising → Disable "Personalized Ads"

Android: Settings → Privacy → Ads → Delete advertising ID (or "Opt out of Ads Personalization" on older versions)

What this does: Prevents apps from tracking you across different apps and websites using your advertising ID. Advertisers can still show you ads, but they can't build detailed profiles of your interests and behaviors.

App Tracking Transparency (iPhone)

iPhone: Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking

Review the list of apps. Any app that says "Allowed" is tracking you across other apps and websites. Tap each one and select "Ask App Not to Track"

What this does: iOS requires apps to ask permission before tracking you across other companies' apps and websites. Most people mindlessly tap "Allow" when prompted. This setting lets you revoke that permission.

Google Location History

If you use Google services, Google maintains a detailed timeline of everywhere you've been, even if individual apps don't have location access.

To Check and Delete:

1. Open Google Maps app
2. Tap your profile picture
3. Select "Your Timeline"
4. See everywhere Google has tracked you

To Disable:

1. In Timeline, tap the three dots (•••)
2. Settings and privacy
3. Location History → Turn off for your account
4. Delete past location history if desired

Android Users Also: Settings → Location → Location services → Google Location History → Pause

What this does: Stops Google from creating a detailed timeline of your movements. You can still use Google Maps navigation; it just won't store your location history.

Significant Locations (iPhone)

Apple tracks your frequent locations to provide traffic alerts, travel time predictions, and location-based suggestions.

iPhone: Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services → System Services (at bottom) → Significant Locations

View everywhere your iPhone has tracked you, then toggle off "Significant Locations" and optionally delete history.

What this does: Prevents Apple from tracking and storing your frequent locations. You'll lose some predictive features but gain privacy.

App Permissions Audit

Beyond location, apps request access to:

• Camera (can secretly record)
• Microphone (can secretly listen)
• Contacts (can harvest your entire contact list)
• Photos (can access all images, even those you didn't want to share)
• Calendars (can see all events, meetings, and appointments)

iPhone: Settings → Privacy & Security → Review each category (Camera, Microphone, Photos, etc.)

Android: Settings → Privacy → Permission manager → Review each permission type

What to do: Ask yourself for each app: "Does this app genuinely need this access for core functionality?" If not, disable it. For example:

• Social media apps don't need continuous microphone access (only while posting videos)
• Shopping apps don't need access to all your photos
• Games don't need your contacts

Background App Refresh

Apps can update content and track activity even when you're not using them.

iPhone: Settings → General → Background App Refresh → Either disable entirely or disable for individual apps

Android: Settings → Apps → Select app → Mobile data & Wi-Fi → Background data → Disable

Or enable Data Saver: Settings → Network & Internet → Data Saver → Enable

What this does: Prevents apps from running in the background, reducing tracking, battery drain, and data usage. Apps will still update when you open them.

Wi-Fi and Bluetooth Tracking

Your phone constantly broadcasts signals that can be used for tracking, even when you're not actively using Wi-Fi or Bluetooth.

Wi-Fi Scanning

Your phone scans for Wi-Fi networks constantly, even when Wi-Fi is "off." This can be used to track your location as you pass by Wi-Fi access points.

iPhone: Cannot be fully disabled on newer iOS versions, but turning off Wi-Fi in Control Center reduces scanning.

Android: Settings → Location → Location services → Wi-Fi scanning → Disable

What this does: Stops your phone from constantly scanning for Wi-Fi networks, reducing battery drain and making your phone less trackable.

Bluetooth Scanning

Similar to Wi-Fi, Bluetooth scanning can track you as you move through environments with Bluetooth beacons.

Android: Settings → Location → Location services → Bluetooth scanning → Disable

iPhone: Less exposed to this issue, but turning off Bluetooth when not needed helps.

MAC Address Randomization

Your phone's Wi-Fi MAC address is a unique identifier. When connecting to Wi-Fi networks, your phone can be tracked across different networks using this address.

iPhone: Settings → Wi-Fi → Tap (i) next to network → Private Wi-Fi Address → Enable (should be on by default for most networks)

Android: Settings → Network & Internet → Wi-Fi → Wi-Fi preferences → Privacy → Use randomized MAC (or similar option, varies by manufacturer)

What this does: Uses a random MAC address for each Wi-Fi network instead of your phone's real hardware address, making you harder to track across different networks.

The Nuclear Option: Completely Disable Location Services

If you want maximum privacy and can live without location-based features:

iPhone: Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services → Toggle off entirely

Android: Settings → Location → Use location → Toggle off

What you'll lose:

• Navigation and maps
• Weather based on current location
• Photo geotagging
• Find My Phone functionality
• Location-based reminders
• Ride-sharing apps
• Location check-ins on social media

What you'll gain:

• Dramatically improved privacy
• Better battery life
• Peace of mind about location tracking

Compromise approach: Keep location services enabled but set every single app to "Never" except the 2-3 you absolutely need location for (like Maps when actively navigating). You can manually enable location temporarily when needed, then disable it again.

Who's Actually Tracking You and Why

Understanding who benefits from tracking you illuminates why it's so pervasive:

App Developers: Sell location data to data brokers, use it to target ads, analyze user behavior to improve products (legitimate) or maximize engagement/addiction (less legitimate).

Advertisers: Build detailed profiles to target ads more effectively, track whether you visit stores after seeing ads, measure campaign effectiveness.

Data Brokers: Companies you've never heard of buy location data from apps and aggregate it to sell to other companies. Your movements become a commodity.

Insurance Companies: Some use location data to assess risk, track driving behavior, or verify claims.

Law Enforcement: Can request location data from companies with warrants (or sometimes without), track suspects, build cases.

Stalkers and Abusers: Compromised apps or spyware can enable stalking through location access.

Foreign Governments: Apps from certain countries may share data with foreign governments, potentially compromising national security (hence TikTok concerns) or individual safety.

The Myths vs. Reality

Myth: "I need to allow location 'Always' for apps to work properly."

Reality: Almost no apps genuinely need "Always" access. "While Using" works perfectly for legitimate needs.

Myth: "Turning off location services means I can't be tracked at all."

Reality: Cell tower triangulation, Wi-Fi networks, and IP addresses can still roughly locate you. But accuracy drops from pinpoint (GPS) to approximate area (cell towers), and far less data is collected.

Myth: "I have nothing to hide, so tracking doesn't matter."

Reality: Privacy isn't about hiding bad things; it's about controlling your information. Would you want strangers knowing everywhere you've been for the past year? Your location data reveals sensitive information—medical appointments, religious services, political rallies, relationships, and more.

Myth: "Free apps need to track me to make money."

Reality: Many apps monetize through tracking, but alternatives exist—paid apps, subscription models, or apps that respect privacy. Supporting privacy-respecting alternatives encourages better practices.

Quick Reference: The Privacy Checklist

Take 5 Minutes Right Now:

☐ Settings → Location Services → Change all "Always" to "While Using" or "Never"

☐ Settings → Privacy → Tracking → Disable "Allow Apps to Request to Track"

☐ Settings → Ads → Opt out of personalized ads / Delete advertising ID

☐ Google Maps → Timeline → Disable Location History

☐ Settings → System Services → Significant Locations → Disable (iPhone)

Take Another 10 Minutes:

☐ Review each app's location permission individually

☐ Audit camera, microphone, and photo permissions

☐ Disable background app refresh for non-essential apps

☐ Enable MAC address randomization

☐ Delete apps you don't use (they may still track in background)

Monthly Maintenance:

☐ Review permissions for newly installed apps

☐ Check location services list for changes

☐ Delete Google location history if you've re-enabled it

☐ Audit app list and delete unused apps

When Tracking Is Actually Useful

To be fair, some tracking provides genuine benefits:

• Navigation obviously requires location
• Weather apps work better with location
• Find My Phone needs location to work
• Fitness apps track runs/rides
• Geotagged photos help organize memories
• Location-based reminders can be handy

The key is conscious choice. Use location features when they genuinely serve you, but disable the tracking that only serves companies profiting from your data.

The Bottom Line

Your phone tracks you extensively by default. Most people have unknowingly given dozens of apps permission to monitor their every movement. This tracking builds detailed profiles used for advertising, sold to data brokers, and potentially accessed by authorities, insurers, or bad actors.

But you can stop it. The settings exist—phone manufacturers just bury them and apps encourage you to ignore them. Taking 15 minutes to work through the checklist above dramatically improves your privacy.

You don't have to choose between using your phone and protecting your privacy. You just need to take control of the settings that, by default, favor tracking over privacy.

Your phone should work for you, not spy on you. Make these changes, and it will.