Full Specification

Android Google Maps Onlocationchanged-Every now and again a story strikes the blogosphere exposure how Google is usually automatically tracking your location on your Android phone (or your current iPhone), and how you can see proof of this by visiting a specific website and observing the minutiae of your respective daily movements.

So is Search engines really keeping navigation bars where you go with your smartphone? Well, that depends in whether you presented it permission to take action. And if you are not comfortable with all your location data getting stored by Search engines, it's easy in order to opt out. Please read on for a FUD-free reason of location monitoring in Google products and services.

At the heart of this issue are a couple Google features — Position Reporting and Position History.

Location Reporting is really a toggle on everyone device tied on your Google account. It's turned off until you explain to it otherwise; in the event you turn it on — as an example, when first cracking open Google Maps and OKing the information asking to periodically store your location — your telephone will report its location time for Google regularly.

Location History is really a toggle on your current Google account which affects all devices. If enabled, it lets Google store a record of all your location data from all your devices over occasion. As with Position Reporting, it's switched off until you enable it — all over again, most likely through approving Google Maps' demand to store your location. You can disable Position History and hold Location Reporting switched on, but doing consequently may affect products and services like Google Today.

Google lets an individual view everything it collects on the web at maps. google. com/locationhistory.

When you first start up a new Android smartphone and run through the initial build, your phone defaults to using Location Reporting switched off. Whether Location History is fired up depends on if you've previously enabled the idea on another device in your Google account. If you haven't, it foreclosures to "off. inch

Or more basically: if you're establishing a new device that has a new Google bank account, both Location Background and Location Exposure are disabled before you tell Google or else.

There are some ways of granting Google use of this stuff. You can manually enable both equally settings under Search engines Settings > Search engines Location Reporting. Or in the event you start up Search engines Maps or Search engines Now, you'll need in order to opt into Position Reporting and Location History to get the most out these services. (Though for Maps it is possible to skip this step nevertheless use all this app's basic features. )

When you first start Google Maps and accept the terms of use, you'll come through the "Enhance your Search engines Maps experience" display screen, shown above. The "Learn more" link would go to Google's support web site, which explains you are about to enable Location Reporting and Location History. Additionally, it tells you which other Google applications may access this data: