Five Ways to Stop Smartphone from Tracking You

Modern smartphones are equipped with powerful hardware and a highly functional operating system. The built-in GPS functionality can track your current location. Targeted advertising is an effective way to approach people who are more likely to buy certain products. The best way to do this is by correlating the digital habits of potential customers. Major companies are paying a lot of money to get information about people who are more likely to purchase their products.

Because smartphone can track your location and habits, here are ways to stop that:

1. Stop Google from tracking you

Google been criticized for its policy to store user’s location data. Fortunately, it is possible to disable Google’s location tracking feature. Sign in to your Google account. Go to Personal Info and Privacy and tap “Your personal info”. Tap “Manage your Google Activity” and choose “Go to Activity Controls”. The next step is to choose what kind of data you want to save in your Google account.

2. Use anonymous web browser

Instead of using regular web browser, you should choose a browser with anonymous feature. The web browser won’t track your location, online behaviors and other analytics information. After each session, your passwords and browsing history will be deleted. Many web browsers, have incognito or private mode that allows you to perform online activities more freely. Dolphin browser is a good alternative if you want to stay away from Google, Mozilla, Apple and other major players in the market.

3. Evaluate online accounts

It is important to assess your online activities to find out whether you are feeding information about your preferences and locations. With each click, the algorithm gathers new information, which makes you more relevant to certain ads or products. Google and Microsoft offer an option on their dashboards for better privacy controls.

4. Adjust location settings

You should check the privacy settings to stop your smartphone from recording daily routine. The phone will track how long you stay in a single location and it can easily tell where your home is, if you spend the night at single location each day. In iOS devices, go to Settings> Privacy> Location Services> System Services. Go to Significant Locations to check records and disable by deselecting it. With an Android device, you should go to Settings> Location> Google Location Settings. Go to Location Reporting and Location History, then disable it. Choose Delete Location History to remove cache.

5. Limit tracking of ad

It may sound a bit extreme to disable the location tracking feature. However, it is an effective way to stop you from being tracked for targeted ads. It is easy to restrict ad tracking with both iOS and Android operating systems. Although you may not be able to completely stop ads from tracking, you will see fewer of them. In iPhone, go to Settings> Privacy> Advertising. Enable Limit Ad tracking. Reset the Advertising Identifier, so your ID will not be linked with previous data. In Android devices, you should go to Settings> Google> Ads. Enable “Opt out of ads personalization”.