It seems everything is tracking us wherever we go these days. But, did we tell our phones it's okay to do so or are we stuck? The main thing everyone needs to remember is that we as the consumer agree to these terms when we blindly accept terms and conditions without even giving it a quick glance through. We can easily opt out of most of these things that worry us or change the permissions of apps if we know what to look for.

The latest internet privacy scare is Google's location tracking and storing via your Android Smart Phone. Google uses your location into to help your phone be more customized to you. For example, if you use Google Now, these location permissions track where you have been in order to supply you with relevant information like new places you might like to visit in your area based upon where you frequent. No, it's not just Android phones, we'll get into the iPhone's Photo Geotagging, which tags the location wherever the photo was taken, and how to turn these features off. It's not hard opt out of these location tracking and storing features, after all we are the ones who accepted those permissions in the first place. But, before we do that, if you want to see where you and your Android phone has been, Google doesn't hide that it's a thing or where it is, here's the link: maps.google.com/locationhistory (you have to be signed into your Gmail account to view it, it's not just for anyone to go and see, its for you and your phone - Google won't just pass this info around without your permission nor with they sell it).

Disabling Google's Android location tracking:

Start in your phone's settings and find your way to 'Accounts,' on my phone it looks like this, but on others this step may look more like a long list where I have tabs up top.

Android Accounts
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Tap your 'Google' account.

Android Accounts
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Tap 'Location' under 'Privacy'

Google Account
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From here you can turn location off or on as a whole, by turning it off you loose the option to search for something like, "Pizza places around here" because it won't know where "here" is.

Location
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If you choose to leave location on and are just worried about the location reporting, you can then tap into 'Google Location Reporting' under 'Location Services'

Location
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From here you can turn off the location reporting service for certain apps by tapping 'Location Reporting'

Location Reporting
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Location Reporting Toggle
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Or turn off 'Location History' to stop it saving the data. To delete all previous data also tap 'DELETE LOCATION HISTORY'

Location Reporting
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Location History
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Disabling iPhone's Photo Geotagging:

First go to the 'Settings' on the iPhone, then scroll down a bit and tap 'Privacy,' from there as shown in the image below, tap into 'Location Services.' From there, 'Location Services' can be turned off as a whole or any of the listed items including 'Camera,' which will then turn the geotagging off.

iPhone Settings
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But hey, to get these phones we signed a contract where we basically allow our phone carriers know where we are at all times as long as the phone is on. If you noticed in the screen shot of the location toggle screen, Emergency 911 tracking can't be turned off. If "the man" or "the government" or whoever wanted to find us they could, so I wouldn't be that worried, we just have to live with it.

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