Every time you take a picture on your Android phone, it records informational data and encodes it into image metadata. Some of this data includes the GPS location where the photo was taken. This information is easy to delete, and there is also a way to prevent Android from storing this information.
Of course, geolocation data has its advantages. For example, if you use Google Photos to automatically back up and save your images, you can search for a specific location and Photos will use that data to display all relevant images. It is very comfortable.
But, there is another side to this: when you share an image online, it means that most people can also find that information. So if you take a photo at home and then share it online, you've potentially just given everyone your home address.
However, many online services remove this data when you upload a photo. For example, Facebook and Imgur remove this data from images for privacy reasons, but if you want to be safe, you can prevent Android from storing it at all.
Since there are many manufacturers of smartphones with Android OS and it is unrealistic to make instructions for all, we will look at how to remove this data from stock Android, as well as in firmware from Huawei (Honor).
All camera apps will ask for location permissions the first time you launch the app, but if you didn't pay attention to that, then you may have just given the approval automatically. Here's how to fix it.
How to disable location saving in stock Android
The following method is specifically for Google Camera, which is available on most Android devices such as Pixel or Nexus.
First launch the camera, then swipe right and tap on the gear icon to open the menu.
We need a "Shooting Location" toggle. Disable it.
That's literally all there is to it.
How to Disable Location for Photos on Huawei (Honor) Devices
I'm using Honor 8 lite using Nougat for this example, but the process should be the same (or close to it) for all modern Huawei and Honor phones.
First, launch the camera and swipe left.
Turn off the "GPS tag" switch.
Generic Method
If none of the methods listed above suits your device, then the universal method should help you, which is to prohibit permission access to the location for the camera application. Here's how to do it. (this process is shown for Android 8, for other versions you will have to look for where the list of applications is)
Open settings and select Apps & notifications.
Here, select "Application Details".
In the list of applications, find the camera application and select it.
Go to app permissions.
And turn off the "Location" toggle.
It's worth noting that this method can be used on all Android devices, but it's recommended to disable location tagging first in the camera app (on devices that have this setting, of course). Otherwise, when you launch the camera again, it will simply re-request access to the location.
It's also worth saying that this will prevent the location from being used only for the built-in camera app. If you have any third-party application installed, you need to check its permissions and settings to disable or prevent the use of location.
The main plus of the useful option is that if you lose your phone, it will not be difficult to find it, the main thing is that the battery does not run out, but even if this happens, a turned off iPhone (or Android) can be found with the help of special services.
One of the main disadvantages is that if the phone is in an always working mode, it will start to discharge too quickly. Therefore, for the convenience of gadget owners, the built-in geolocation program can be active and inactive.
The fact is that the installation of new applications (“weather”, “photo”, “maps”, “notes”, “calendar”, “Double Gis”) requires consent to mandatory geolocation. It is also impossible to use the navigation system without geolocation. Without the help of the option, you will not immediately find your way in an unfamiliar city if you need to find a restaurant or an overnight stay.
But if you're determined to rid your phone of spying, it's pretty easy to do.
How to disable geolocation
The geolocation icon resembles a drop and is displayed at the very top, where the battery indicator is. It is impossible to confuse the icon with something else. To wipe a drop from the face of the earth, just go to the "settings" of the phone. Choose "location" or "privacy". Uncheck "by network coordinates" and "by satellites".
By disconnecting, you will also protect yourself from possible spies who are trying to get as much information as possible in order to use it for personal gain. But do not wind yourself up in vain - in order to pursue a person, you need good reasons.
In the iPhone, the functions have slightly different names - “privacy” and “location services”. The shutdown principle is the same. Just find the items in the settings and confirm the shutdown (you can turn it off selectively, leaving the geolocation for navigation, and removing, for example, from the "photo"). Understanding the settings of any phone is not difficult.
Before disabling the option, no matter what operating system you have, make sure that all applications are turned off. You can enable the feature at any time.
From gadgets.masterkit.ru we invite you to “go into the dusk”, to refuse constant geolocation on your smartphone.
Knowing your location is a useful thing! In fact, some people think that this is one of the best features in smartphones. But if you don't like it when someone from your relatives monitors all your movements, or you are worried about what can happen if your phone is stolen or lost, simple tips will help free your favorite gadget from this information.
Big Brother is watching you!
A smartphone, tracking the location, allows you to solve many useful tasks: carry out road navigation, update the weather forecast, and even show traffic in real time. However, if you don't want Google and Apple to know where you go, let alone thieves who can get hold of your phone and get this information, you can turn off your smartphone's location tracking.
While location tracking has many positives, Google and Apple collect this data without informing you about it, and it is stored on the phone (and in Apple's case, on the computer). Anyone with the right knowledge and tools can easily find out where you've been with your phone for a significant amount of time, so if you're worried about that, you can turn these features off. Here's how it's done.
Disable caching of your location in Android
In Android, everything is pretty simple.
Luckily, in Android, location is an option. You may or may not enable it when you first set up your phone. To disable the feature, go to Settings > Location and Security and uncheck Use Wireless Networks. This will slow down some applications when determining your current location, and the maps will no longer be as accurate, but Google will no longer collect and store data about your routes. This data will also no longer be stored on your phone.
If you also want to free up some cache space on your phone, you need to root your device. Then, after installing the free Location Cache application, you can view a map of your routes, as well as clear your phone of this information and disable caching.
Disable location tracking in iOS
In iOS, the situation is a little more complicated.
In iOS, the situation is a little more complicated. Turning off the location service will stop the data from being sent back to Apple, but location caching on your phone will still continue, so anyone with access to that computer or phone will be able to see where you have been (IOS will then sync all this information back to iTunes).
The only way to do anything about it is to perform a so-called Jailbreak - give the software full access to the device's file system, and install the Untrackerd application, which will clear the cache space and prevent your location from being recorded in the future. This app won't even have an icon on your home screen, just install it and forget about it.
It is important to be aware that rooting and jailbreaking are not officially supported by manufacturers, and, therefore, by doing them, you lose the right to warranty repair of your gadget in case of any problems.
Knowledge is power, and whether you use it for good or for evil is entirely up to you!
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Share valuable information in social networks - help your friends get rid of "surveillance"
If you are wondering how you can turn off the location, then you have come to the right place.
Such a need arises for those who use and computers on Windows.
Of course, geolocation- a very useful feature, but in some cases you don’t really want the “big brother” to follow us (this is from the work “1984” by J. Orwell).
So, let's proceed to the shutdown procedure on various devices.
Android smartphones and tablets
Initially, you can turn off geolocation using the function menu, which opens with a swipe from the top. Step by step, this process is as follows:
1 Open the function menu. To do this, swipe from top to bottom, that is, just move your finger.
2 There will be items for the Internet, flight mode, flashlight and, in fact, the location. Just click on the item "Geolocation". It will stop glowing. This will mean that it is disabled.
Important! This item may be referred to as "Location", and "Geolocation". It all depends on the version of the operating system.
3 If you want, that is, the places where you were, you need to hold this item in the function menu. The location settings window will open. You can also turn this feature on and off there. This is done by moving the switch to the position "On"(when the switch is green) or "Off"(when it's white). At the bottom there will be "Story…", which makes it possible to erase this data.
But this procedure still won't stop Google from tracking where you are or even what you're doing.
To completely get rid of the influence of this "evil" company, one more thing to do:
1 Go to settings. This shortcut is located on the desktop. In some versions, it is also in the same menu of additional functions, which is opened by swiping from top to bottom (in the form of a gear in the upper right corner).
2 In the settings, find the item "My location". It is in the section "Personal data".
3 There will be two inscriptions - "According to the coordinates of the series" and "According to GPS satellites". It is best to uncheck the boxes next to each of them. Only in this case, no one will be able to follow you in any way.
It is worth noting that some devices do not have the ability to work with satellites. Therefore, if you follow all the steps in the list above, but do not find the corresponding item in the menu, this is quite normal. You should not look for it in any other places and settings sections.
Now let's move on to the same procedure, but on "apple" smartphones and tablets.
Smartphones and tablets on iOS
It is worth saying that everything is much more interesting here. The fact is that in many more applications use the determination of the user's position on the map than in .
But disabling this feature is also easy here. It's done like this:
- Go to settings. The corresponding shortcut is also on the desktop.
- In the settings, open the item "Privacy". This section contains all the settings related to the user's personal data.
- Next open "Location Services".
- In an open window, there will be a switch next to the same inscription. You need to make sure that he is in position "Off", that is, it was white. If it is not, press the switch and the location will turn off.
- You will be prompted to perform this action. It will contain a warning about the possible consequences of disabling the user's location. We will return to this. So, in this query, you need to click the button "Switch off".
- Close settings. The changes will take effect immediately.
As regards the consequences of the actions described above, which are referred to in the disconnection request, they boil down to the fact that the function "Find iPhone" will become unavailable.
It is intended for cases when the user loses his device or has it stolen from him.
With the function enabled, you can easily determine where the device is located, and even see it on the map. In addition, some applications will not work or some of their functions will become unavailable. In fact, there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. So feel free to press "Switch off" in the request and move on.
The procedure described above was done on (as), but on it will be performed in exactly the same way.
In this case, Apple will also be able to follow you, even if the location is disabled.
Therefore, it is necessary to perform a number of actions, namely, to erase the "frequently visited places", remove the Spotlight search, and so on.
The full process of disabling geolocation is shown in the video below.
Windows computers
In Windows 10, this feature is enabled by default. The purpose of the manufacturer is the same as in other cases - the collection of information about the user.
The system keeps track of where he was, what he did, asks for feedback, and so on.
In principle, there is nothing wrong with this, but some users decide to turn off this feature - either for the sake of, or because they are afraid of the "big brother" surveillance.
Anyway, this service can be disabled and this is done as follows:
1 Go to the menu "Start" and open there "Settings". If your interface is in English, then the settings will be called "Settings".
2 Go to the section "Confidentiality" or "Privacy". A new window will open in which you will need to go to the "Location" or "Location" section.
3 There you can turn off this feature for specific applications or for the entire OS. To do this, there is a list of programs and a slider next to each of them, as well as another slider under the inscription "Location" or Location. They can be placed in "On" or Off.
Important! All this is extremely important to do from under an account that has administrator rights. Please note that even if you work from the same account all the time, this does not mean at all that this is an administrator.
You can learn more about obtaining administrator rights in the video below.
As you can see, everything is done quite simply, but the shutdown process may look different.
Figure 5 shows the disabling of geolocation on the "top ten". She looks exactly the same.
But as for Windows 7, location is possible there only if the computer has the right sensor.
Accordingly, in order to disable the service in question, it is necessary to disable this very sensor. This is done as follows:
- Open the menu "Start" and enter the query "sensor" in the search bar. That will be the easiest.
- The list above will display all the programs and services associated with that word. You take "Enable location sensor and other sensors". In principle, you can initially enter a query to search for a given service, rather than entering the word "sensor".
- If there are no sensors in the system, the list will be empty. And if there is, it will stand (or not stand) near each on the right, which indicates that this sensor is working. Actually, you only need to uncheck the box next to the geolocation sensor.
It is worth saying that not every ordinary user can determine which sensor does what by name.
Therefore, you will have to look on the Internet by the name of the sensor for its functionality. Most often, the official website has all the necessary information.
To check if the function works, you need to in the menu "Start" enter the request "sensor" and open the program "View Placement Actions". Again, you can immediately enter the name of this service in the search bar.
In the open window, you need to look at the section "Location Actions". If there will be 0 events, then the position is not determined and not sent to the corporation.
Accordingly, if there is something, you can view the list of actions.
There is no such service, since the manufacturer does not need data about where users are and what they are doing. So there is no way to turn it off.
"I can not!"
In this case, write to us. Also, if you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the comments.
Some sites may use your location to show you information that is relevant to you, such as weather, traffic, or a map. If you share your location with a site that specializes in cafe and restaurant reviews, it will be able to offer you reviews of nearby establishments.
The location is determined by the nearest wireless access points and the IP address of your device. See section for details. Device location data is anonymized: only geographic coordinates are transmitted and information that allows identifying the user is not transmitted.
- Set city manually
- The location is determined incorrectly
Allow the site to determine the location
If a site asks for information about where you are, you will see a warning at the top of the page. The information will only be shared with the site if you click the Allow button.
If you have allowed your location to be shared with a site or site component, such as a map, the icon appears in the address bar as a reminder. Click it for more information or to deny access to location information.
List of sites allowed to track location
To view a list of sites that are allowed to track your location:
The Allowed tab displays a list of websites that are allowed to track your location. To remove a site from the list, hover your mouse over it and click the Remove link that appears. After that, the site will not determine your location.
Prevent all sites from determining location
To prevent all sites from detecting your location, follow these steps:
Set city manually
Note. The manual selection of the city is stored in cookies. Your region settings will remain in effect on your device until you change them or delete your cookies.
Disable the option Detect automatically.
In the input field, specify the desired city and click Save.
Location in incognito mode
By default, in Incognito mode, the location is determined automatically, even if you previously manually entered the city. This is because Incognito mode does not store cookies, but the manual choice of the city is stored in them.