Google Traffic, iOS edition
Several years ago, I wrote about how Google gets traffic information and how to turn off this location reporting on Android phones. Since then I’ve switched to iPhones. While I normally use the built-in Maps app, I keep Google Maps installed as a fallback—just in case.
I upgraded my phone recently and so I spent some time going through all the apps and making sure they worked and didn’t have more access than necessary. This is when I discovered that the Google Maps app for iOS defaults to collecting location information and sharing it with Google. Given my previous post, this isn’t really surprising.
Turning it off
Anyway, as with the Android post, here are the steps to limit Google’s collection of location information.
First of all, in Settings → Privacy → “Location Services”, I changed Google Maps’s permission to “While Using the App”. If I’m not using the app, then it doesn’t need to know where I am.
Second, in the app itself, go to: Settings → “About, terms & privacy” → “Location data collection”. That’s right, this setting is buried in what appears to be a page with the boring legal notices.
And then turn off the the toggle:
That should do it…at least assuming that Google honors the settings in its own app.