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I should not have to choose between giving Google a free for all access to my location data or having no location functionality on my device. This is one of th

I should not have to choose between giving Google a free for all access to my location data or having no location functionality on my device. This is one of the primary reasons I won't use Android. They always bundle critical features in with privacy violations.

d3nj4l 6y ago
If you turn off location history, you shouldn't get the notifications to review stores and the like, IME. I've had location history off but location services on (damn you, uber!) for ages, and I don't get those any more.
- canofbars 6y ago
  They still lock features out if you do. You can't set your home location in google maps unless you allow them to track and store your location 24/7. Meanwhile ios manages perfectly fine keeping that data on your phones local storage.
netsharc 6y ago
As sibling comment wrote, the "do you want to review $location?" prompts come from you enabling location history, which is a Maps feature they offer to users who want to keep track where they've been. You can enable location services (needed for apps like Maps, Lyft, Tinder, Find My Device) without enabling location history. Whether they still record your history, who knows.
sneak 6y ago
> I should not have to choose between giving Google a free for all access to my location data or having no location functionality on my device. Location indoors is made possible by sending a list of visible WiFi AP MAC addresses and relative signal strengths to a web service. WiFi MAC addresses are globally unique serial numbers, and Google/Apple maintain huge MAC-to-location databases. Enabling location doesn't just turn on GPS, it sends your location to Apple/Google constantly to retrieve the lat/lon from visible WiFi triangulation. The only way to keep your mobile location halfway private (your carrier still gets it, and leaks it to your national military) is to keep all location services disabled on the device. Otherwise, simply enabling location access at all gives Google and Apple the aforementioned "free for all access". I agree that it shouldn't be this way, but it is today.
- Mediterraneo10 6y ago
  It used to be much easier for Android users to be able to choose which location service they wanted to use, for example Mozilla’s location service downloaded from F-Droid. However, Google made a change to AOSP that requires third-party location services to now be installed as a system app, not a regular app. (Only a tiny amount of people will have the skills to use the Android shell to move the package to the right place.) It is hard to not see this as a way for Google to lock Android users into using only its service and giving it all their location data.

d3nj4l 6y ago

If you turn off location history, you shouldn't get the notifications to review stores and the like, IME. I've had location history off but location services on (damn you, uber!) for ages, and I don't get those any more.

canofbars 6y ago
They still lock features out if you do. You can't set your home location in google maps unless you allow them to track and store your location 24/7. Meanwhile ios manages perfectly fine keeping that data on your phones local storage.

netsharc 6y ago

As sibling comment wrote, the "do you want to review $location?" prompts come from you enabling location history, which is a Maps feature they offer to users who want to keep track where they've been. You can enable location services (needed for apps like Maps, Lyft, Tinder, Find My Device) without enabling location history. Whether they still record your history, who knows.

sneak 6y ago

> I should not have to choose between giving Google a free for all access to my location data or having no location functionality on my device. Location indoors is made possible by sending a list of visible WiFi AP MAC addresses and relative signal strengths to a web service. WiFi MAC addresses are globally unique serial numbers, and Google/Apple maintain huge MAC-to-location databases. Enabling location doesn't just turn on GPS, it sends your location to Apple/Google constantly to retrieve the lat/lon from visible WiFi triangulation. The only way to keep your mobile location halfway private (your carrier still gets it, and leaks it to your national military) is to keep all location services disabled on the device. Otherwise, simply enabling location access at all gives Google and Apple the aforementioned "free for all access". I agree that it shouldn't be this way, but it is today.

Mediterraneo10 6y ago
It used to be much easier for Android users to be able to choose which location service they wanted to use, for example Mozilla’s location service downloaded from F-Droid. However, Google made a change to AOSP that requires third-party location services to now be installed as a system app, not a regular app. (Only a tiny amount of people will have the skills to use the Android shell to move the package to the right place.) It is hard to not see this as a way for Google to lock Android users into using only its service and giving it all their location data.