What is Google Location History and Should You Use It or Not?
Should you use it or not, is your personal preference, but let me explain a bit to help you decide. Google Location History, is a Google feature which keeps track of all the locations you visit with your device, be it a mobile, a tablet or a computer; as long as your signed into your Google Account with the Location History feature turned on, Google will be able to store and save the locations you’ve visited, serve their purpose of showing targeted ads and helps you find out where you were, when you were drunk and also help you track your phone if it’s lost and the phone is turned on.
This brief explanation pretty much sums up what the Google Location History is all about. To view your location history, click here.
Now let’s discuss a bit about Privacy Issues.
Is Your Location History Private?
In my opinion, the only information that is really private is the one that’s kept Offline. Information that’s not offline is one way or the other at a risk of being exposed.
Benefits of google location history
Google apps use your location history in many different ways, especially on mobile devices. To customize their services for you, they use your location data, and in some cases, your location history.
For example, if you store your location history, Google Maps will give you relevant search results based on the places you’ve visited in the past. Google Now is another service that makes use of location history. Among many other things, it gives you the directions to the places you have visited frequently.
Know Before You Decide
Before you decide to allow or disallow location history, it’s a good idea to view what Google’s location history has been collecting. If you have turned on location history on your mobile, the easiest way to see it in action is by visiting Google maps on your PC. In your PC browser, log in to the Google account (the same account you use on your mobile) and visit the following URL.
On the map, you will see all the locations you’ve visited when your location history was turned on. There will be a link on the left side of the map labelled “Show timestamps”. Clicking it will show you even further details about timestamps regarding the places you’ve visited. Google location services uses your device’s GPS, Wi-Fi and mobile network to pinpoint your location.
Seeing this detail may be surprising if you didn’t know it already. However, this may seem cool to many people. Most probably, you don’t remember where you were, this time, one week before or one month before, but your device has kept a record. Furthermore, your phone can tell you about the traffic condition on your commute and weather prediction for the place you are heading to.
Disable/Delete Location History
You can disable all location services by going to the Settings in your mobile and choosing Location Services. However, if you do not want to disable all location services, you can disable or enable Google apps access to your location, GPS satellites and Google’s location services under the same settings screen.
The location settings may differ slightly from device to device. As discussed above, accessing your location history from your PC not only gives you a chance to view your detailed location history but also give you more control over deleting specific data or wipe out entire location history.
Again, login to the same Google account and Go here -> https://maps.google.com/locationhistory
From the Location History View, You can delete specific points, or location history of a predefined time, last week for example. Furthermore, you can wipe out location history altogether.
