Even if you have Location History turned off, Google often saves your exact location.
Here’s how to remove these markers and some best practices to keep your location as private as possible.
But there is no panacea, because simply connecting to the Internet on any device marks an IP address that can be geographically matched.
Smartphones also connect to cell towers so your carrier always knows your general location.
To disable tracking on any device
Launch your browser and go to myactivity.google.com. You will need to sign in to Google.
From the top left drop-down menu, select Manage Activity. Disable both “App & Web History” and “Location History”.
This should prevent accurate location markers from being stored in your Google account.
Google will warn you that some of its services will not work if these settings are disabled.
In particular, neither the Google Assistant, nor the digital concierge, nor the Google Home smart speaker will be of much use.
On iOS
If you are using Google Maps, please change the location setting to “When using” the application. This will prevent the app from accessing your location when it’s not active.
Go to “Settings” “Privacy” “Location Services” and select “Google Maps” to make changes.
In the Safari web browser, consider using a search engine other than Google.
Under Safari Search Engine Settings, you can find other options like Bing or DuckDuckGo.
You can disable location while browsing by going to Settings > Privacy > Location Services > Safari Websites and set this option to Never.
This still won’t prevent advertisers from knowing your approximate location based on your IP address on any website.
You can also turn off Location Services almost entirely on your device in the Location Services Privacy settings.
Both Google Maps and Apple Maps will still work, but they won’t know where you are on the map and won’t be able to give you directions.
Emergency services will still be able to find you if the need arises.
On Android
Under the main settings icon, click Security & Location. Scroll down to the “Privacy” heading. Click Location. You can disable it for the entire device.
Use “Application Level Permissions” to disable access to various applications.
Unlike the iPhone, there is no “During use” setting.
You cannot turn off Google Play Services, which share your location with other apps, if you leave this service enabled.
Log in as a “guest” on your Android device by swiping down from the top and touching the downward pointing cursor, then touching the torso icon again.
Be aware of what services you sign in to, such as Chrome. You can also change search engines even in Chrome.
To remove previous location tracking on any device
On myactivity.google.com, look for any entry with a location icon next to the word “details”.
Clicking on it opens a window with a link that sometimes says “From your current location”.
By clicking on it, you will open Google Maps, which will show where you are at the moment.
You can remove it from this popup by clicking the navigation icon with three stacked dots and then “Delete”.
Some items will be grouped in unexpected places, such as topic titles, google.com, Search, or Maps.
You must remove them point by point. You can completely remove all items in date ranges or by services, but this will end up removing more than just location markers.