Facebook is one of the most widely used social networking & sharing sites for sharing news, latest updates to friends /& family (if you’re living far or abroad), mutual conversations & for various other things. We all know that Facebook is notorious for capturing user data to create profiles that advertisers can target that includes the location data from your mobile phone. If that makes you uncomfortable you can also stop/ turn off the Facebook mobile app from tracking your location completely or allow it to do so only when you’re using the app.
It has introduced an update to its location control for its users both using Android mobile & iOS platform. This latest update gives users more control over how the social networking company collects & stores your location data on its vast servers.
Till now, it gave its users, limited options on location sharing. But however the latest update allows users to stop Facebook from accessing your location. Moving ahead, Facebook will keep location tracking off for users never enabled the feature or had set the location history to off.
We’ve listed out new location control for Android app users and it’s sending an alert to all the users both on iOS as well as on Android to check their location settings for the app.
Facebook location tracking control
If you don’t want Facebook to track you and your location, here’s what you need to do.
Don’t want Facebook to track your current or past location? Here’s how you can change your facebook location settings easily:
On IOS
- Launch/ begin the Facebook app on your mobile, click on Settings & Privacy.
- Go on Settings, scroll down privacy section & tap on ‘location’ option.
- Click on Location & select your preferred settings as shown above in the image.
- On choosing ‘minimal tracking’ on your device, go to ‘Don’t allow’. You can set this to access your location only using the app.
- You can also see & turn off your location history with the help of a toggle so that Facebook doesn’t keep a record of places you visited.
On Android Device
- Start or launch the Facebook app on your phone, and go to Settings and Privacy.
- Click on Settings & scroll down to the Privacy section then tap on the ‘Location’ option.
- Tap on Location Services to turn on or turn off your location tracking.
- The ‘Background Location’ option will allow you to choose whether you want to allow Facebook to track your location even when you’re not using the app.
NOTE: You may lose access to a few features on Facebook such as Check-in, Nearby Friends and Find Wi-Fi. Facebook says location access allows the company/ app to serve relevant Google ads on Facebook and improve the experience for its users.
CONCLUSION
Due to recent mishaps (mishappenings) of Facebook with user data, we would like to recommend/ suggest to completely turning off your Facebook location services. However, if you use services like Nearby Friends, it’s a good idea to restrict the location access to only when you’re using the app. Here’s you can block the app from accessing your location history through your smartphone.
Securing your Facebook has now become easier with these latest available technologies.
