Google Tracks Your Movements Even if You Don’t Want It To

Google is recording your location wherever you go—even if you’ve explicitly said that you don’t want the search giant to, the Associated Press reports. An investigation found many Google services, both on Android and iPhone, are storing location data even if you’ve chosen to tighten up the privacy settings on your device. Google claims you can prevent it from remembering where you’ve been, with one of its support pages saying: “You can turn off Location History at any time. With Location History off, the places you go are no longer stored.” That is false, says the report, as some apps automatically store location data without asking. For example, Google stores a snapshot of where you are when you open its Maps app and automatic weather updates on Android phones can pinpoint where you are. Even some searches that appear to have nothing to do with location—such as “chocolate chip cookies”—note your exact location to within a square foot and saves it. Google denies it’s being underhanded, saying in a statement: “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.”