Google Tracks Your Movements

Google is so determined to keep track of your location that it continues logging your movements, even if you've told it not to.

An investigation by the Associated Press revealed that several Google services on both Android phones and iPhones collect and store location data – even when users believe they’ve disabled tracking through privacy settings.

At AP’s request, computer science experts from Princeton University reviewed and confirmed the findings.

In most cases, Google clearly asks for permission to access your location. For instance, when using Google Maps for directions, it will prompt you to allow location access. If you choose to let it save your location over time, it creates a "timeline" that shows your daily travel history.

‘Location history’ off? Google’s still tracking you

Despite turning off “Location History” on mobile devices, the AP investigation discovered that Google still records location data. A map from Princeton researcher Gunes Acar showed his movements over several days – information that was stored in his Google account even though the setting was paused.

Keeping a record of your movements minute-by-minute raises serious privacy concerns. Law enforcement has even used this data in investigations – for example, police in Raleigh, North Carolina, issued a warrant to Google to find devices that were near a crime scene. Because of this, Google gives users the option to “pause” a feature called Location History.

According to Google, this setting should stop the company from saving your whereabouts. The company’s help page says: “You can turn off Location History at any time. With Location History off, the places you go are no longer stored.”

That statement is misleading. Even when Location History is paused, some Google apps continue to automatically record location data with time stamps – without asking for extra permission. (It’s possible to delete this data, but doing so takes time and effort.)

For instance, simply opening Google Maps will log your location. Android’s weather updates use your current location to deliver daily forecasts. Even unrelated searches like “chocolate chip cookies” or “kids science kits” can log your exact coordinates – down to just a few feet – and store that information in your Google account history, which reveals a detailed record of his travels.

This issue impacts around two billion Android users and hundreds of millions more who use Google services on iPhones.

Jonathan Mayer, a computer science professor at Princeton and former chief technologist for the FCC’s enforcement division, said that collecting location data when a user has turned off tracking is inappropriate. A member of Mayer’s research team confirmed the AP’s findings across multiple Android devices, and the AP ran its own tests on iPhones with similar results.

“If you’re going to allow users to turn off something called ‘Location History,’ then all the places where you maintain location history should be turned off,” Mayer said. “That seems like a pretty straightforward position to have.”

Google says it has made everything clear.

“There are a number of different ways that Google may use location to improve people’s experience, including location history, web and app activity, and device-level location services,” a company spokesperson told the AP. “We provide clear descriptions of these tools and robust controls so people can turn them on or off and delete their histories at any time.”

Still, some lawmakers were not satisfied with this explanation.

Senator Mark Warner of Virginia told the AP that it’s “frustratingly common” for tech companies to act in ways that do not match the “totally reasonable expectations of their users.” He pushed for stronger policies that would give users more control over their personal data. Representative Frank Pallone of New Jersey responded to the report by calling for “comprehensive consumer privacy and data security legislation.”

To stop Google from recording certain types of location data, the company says users must disable a setting that isn’t clearly labeled as location-based. This setting, known as “Web and App Activity,” is turned on by default and collects different types of information from Google apps and services.

If you pause this setting, Google will stop saving your activity to your account. However, if you leave “Web & App Activity” turned on while disabling “Location History,” Google simply won’t show your movements on the “timeline” – its visual tool for mapping your daily locations. It doesn’t stop the collection of other location details.

It is possible to remove these markers manually, but doing so can be time-consuming. You must delete them one by one unless you choose to erase all stored activity at once.

To view this saved data, visit myactivity.google.com. The location details are often buried under different labels, many of which don’t clearly mention anything about your location.

To show just how much information is still being collected, the AP created a map tracking the movements of Princeton postdoctoral researcher Gunes Acar. He carried an Android phone with Location History turned off but was allowed access to his Google account. The map tracked Acar’s train rides to New York on two occasions, along with stops at places like The High Line, Chelsea Market, Hell’s Kitchen, Central Park, and Harlem. To protect his privacy, the AP chose not to include his home address, which was the most frequently logged location.

Large tech companies are facing growing pressure over how they handle user data, especially after repeated privacy issues involving Facebook and the rollout of strict privacy laws by the European Union. In a past report, the news outlet Quartz revealed that Google had been collecting Android users' location data by tracking nearby cell towers – even when all location services were disabled. In response, Google said it changed that behavior and claimed it never stored the data.

Some critics argue that Google’s strong focus on location tracking is tied to its advertising goals.

“They build advertising information out of data,” said Peter Lenz, senior geospatial analyst at Dstillery, a competing ad tech firm. “More data for them presumably means more profit.”

The AP was first alerted to this issue by K. Shankari, a graduate researcher at UC Berkeley. She studies how volunteers commute to assist city planners. Shankari said her Android phone once asked her to rate a shopping trip to Kohl’s, even though she had turned off Location History.

“So how did Google Maps know where I was?” she asked in a blog post.

Although the AP couldn’t exactly duplicate her experience, its testing did show that location tracking continued. Shankari found this troubling.

“I am not opposed to background location tracking in principle,” she said. “It just really bothers me that it is not explicitly stated.”

Google provides a more accurate explanation of Location History only in one place – a pop-up that appears when a user tries to pause the feature through their Google account settings. The message reads, “Some location data may be saved as part of your activity on other Google services, like Search and Maps.”

Google gives more details in a popup that shows up if you turn the “Web & App Activity” setting back on – though most users won’t see it since this setting is usually on by default. The message explains that when this feature is active, it “saves the things you do on Google sites, apps, and services ... and associated information, like location.”

The alerts you get when turning off Location History on Android or iPhone can be confusing. On Android, the popup says, “Places you go with your devices will stop being added to your Location History map.” On iPhones, it simply states, “None of your Google apps will be able to store location data in Location History.”

While the iPhone message is technically correct, it can still be unclear. When Location History is turned off, apps like Google Maps continue to save your location – but that data gets stored in the “My Activity” section of your account, not in the “Location History” section.

Since 2014, Google has given advertisers tools to measure how well online ads lead to real-world visits. According to the company, this feature depends on users’ location history.

Google has expanded its use of location-based tracking to boost ad revenue, which climbed 20% last year to $95.4 billion. At its Google Marketing Live event in July, the company announced “local campaigns” – a tool that uses dynamic ads to drive foot traffic to physical stores. It measures success using location data collected from user histories.

Google also says that the location information saved in “My Activity” is used to target ads. Advertisers can focus their ads on very specific areas – like within a mile of a landmark – and usually pay extra to reach people in those zones.

If you turn off “Web & App Activity,” Google will no longer save these location markers. However, this also stops Google from saving search activity and other types of data, which can limit features like Google Assistant.

Sean O’Brien, a researcher at Yale’s Privacy Lab, reviewed the AP’s findings and said Google’s actions raise concerns. “To me, it’s something people should know,” he said. “It is disingenuous for Google to continue logging location even after users have disabled Location History.”