Do you ever feel like your apps are constantly spying on you, knowing where you live and what you are doing? You're not alone — and that's because they probably are. Apps have collected so much data; how much they know and store is often shocking. Unfortunately, we allow apps so much access, giving up so much personal information in the process.

How to turn off location services

You can turn off location services via the location settings for quick peace of mind. The steps may vary slightly depending on the Android version and whether it's heavily skinned. In this guide, we use an Android phone running One UI 6.1 (based on Android 14), but the steps should be similar if you're on a stock version of Android.

1. Go to Settings.
2. Select Location.
3. Tap the toggle next to On (to turn it off). If successful, you may receive a warning message indicating that all your apps do not have location access, prompting you to turn it back on (only turn it back on when you need to).

How to turn off location permissions from an app

If you do not want to disable location services entirely, you can do this on a per-app basis instead. Some apps are more trustworthy and require tracking the location for these apps to work. Apps like Google Maps, Strava, Waze, and weather apps need to know your location to function properly. But social media apps usually don't. We recommend turning off location permissions for those apps that don't require it. Here's how:

1. Go to Settings > Apps.
2. Select an app.
3. Tap Permissions.
4. Select Location under Allowed. Choose Don't allow. Location should be listed under the Not allowed section under your App permissions.

Opt out of personalized ads

When personalized ads are turned on, they are notorious for tracking your location. Most often, they can do more than collect your location info and even make you feel you are being spied on. Here's what you need to do:

1. Open your Google Account page
2. Go to the Data & privacy tab.
3. Tap My Ad Center under the Personalized ads section
4. Select Off in the Personalized ads dropdown.
5. On the next page, tap Turn off to confirm.

@KrishnaQ

Quester

@iQOO Connect