Believe it or not, but Google Maps has probably been tracking your every move with a hidden map for years, without you even realising you’d signed in to the pleasure…
The tracker highlights the real-world movements of millions of users, but reports now show how to turn it off.
It’s all linked to Google Location History, an account-wide service that logs your movements through your phone.
With the premise of being a way for Google to “help” you, by giving you better service by knowing where you’ve been, it works best if you’re signed into a Google account with Location History and Location Reporting activated.
But if you don’t necessarily need Google to give you advice on your commute by tracking where you’ve been, or ads they believe are relevant, do you really need it?
Privacy is the reason Location History is only turned on with your permission, but many users switch it on by accident through Google Maps.
So, to turn it off, you need to turn off Web & Activity Tracking. The thing is, though, the location markers are mixed in with other info, so finding and deleting them isn’t exactly a walk in the park. So you’ll want to go to this link then head to Activity Controls. That’s your spot to turn off Web & Activity Tracking across all Google sites, apps and services.
