Location
How to Stop Android from Tracking Your Location (2026)
Location is the most sensitive sensor on your phone. Here are the four settings that matter and the order to change them in.
By Adrián Vega
Published 22 January 2026 · Updated 15 May 2026 · 8 min read
Your phone gathers location from GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth beacons, and cell towers, and it does so all the time unless you tell it not to. Locking this down is a four-step process — and you should do all four, in this order.
Turn off system-wide location
The nuclear option lives in Quick Settings: tap the Location tile to switch the hardware off. Everything breaks — maps, weather, ride-sharing — so this is the right move for short trips, not daily life.
Per-app location controls
Open Settings > Location > App permissions. Drop everything to "While using the app" except turn-by-turn navigation. Drop weather, news, and shopping apps to "Approximate location only".
Delete Google Location History
Visit myactivity.google.com on a browser, sign in, and choose Location History. Set Auto-delete to 3 months, then run a manual delete-all for everything older. New devices ship with Location History off by default, but older accounts often have years of data.
Wipe Maps Timeline
Open Google Maps, tap your profile picture, then Your Timeline > Settings (gear icon) > Delete all Timeline. This is separate from Location History and must be cleared independently.
Watch
Video walkthrough
A short video on stop android location tracking to complement the steps above.
Key takeaways
- Location is gathered from GPS, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and cell — disabling one isn't enough.
- Approximate-only location is enough for weather and news.
- Location History and Maps Timeline are separate; clear both.
- Set Auto-delete to 3 months as a permanent baseline.
Frequently asked questions
- Will turning off Location History break Google Maps?
- No. Maps still works — you just lose the personal timeline of places you've been.
- Does Airplane mode stop location tracking?
- It stops cellular and Wi-Fi positioning, but GPS still works if location services are on.
References & further reading
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