How to stop apps from tracking your location

How to stop apps from tracking your location

You can head off much of the tracking on your own device by spending a few minutes changing settings. And if you have apps you no longer use, you may want to delete them from your device.

At least 75 companies receive people’s precise location data from hundreds of apps whose users enable location services for benefits such as weather alerts, The New York Times found. The companies use, store or sell the information to help advertisers, investment firms and others.

Q: How can I tell if apps are sharing my location?

A: It’s difficult to know for sure whether location data companies are tracking your phone. Any app that collects location data may share your information with other companies, as long as it mentions that somewhere in its privacy policy.

But the language in those policies can be dense, confusing or outright misleading. Apps that funnel location details to help hedge funds, for instance, have told users their data would be used for market analysis — or simply for “business purposes.”

Source: How to stop apps from tracking your location

- gist culled from pulseng