Expert issues ‘check your phone’ warning over grim privacy fears | UK

Source Domain: www.express.co.uk

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Brits are being urged to check their phones tonight as popular social media apps may be quietly broadcasting their exact location to strangers – even when they think tracking is turned off. Around 55 million Brits are now using social media, with time spent on these apps making up 35% of our total screen time. Location data is being shared constantly through messages, photos and background settings that many users never check.

Social media apps can unknowingly share your location through device location permissions (when the app asks you for location access during setup), location tags added to stories that makes it easier for strangers to identify where you are, Snapchat or Instagram maps with your live or last-known location, or even photo metadata.

Increasingly, Brits are searching on Google how to disable location services, to avoid apps tracking their every move. Darren Corney, phone expert at Insurance2Go, shares five steps you can do tonight to disable location sharing.

He said: “Most people think they’ve turned location off, but in reality many apps are still quietly tracking where you go.

“In some cases, you could be sharing your regular routes, your workplace and your favourite bars without realising.

“With these tips, you’re free to switch off location services for apps that don’t contribute to your safety or improve your experience, keeping you in control, effortlessly.

“It only takes a few minutes to shut down these settings. A quick check tonight could stop your phone broadcasting far more about your life than you’re comfortable with.”

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