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How do I stop my device from sending my location to Google every second, even when the location setting is off? (Which is illegal because I declined Google from taking my location data because I turned it off and they still collect it anyway.)

Google was caught collecting location data EVERY second from android phones when the Location setting is turned off. Now I know why my phone battery is so terrible.

If I leave my phone stationary in my house on standby, it lasts 6-8 hours, which is bad as it should last at least 12 hours stationary on standby. If I go outside and move around, 40% of my battery goes in 2 hours so on a 100% charge when outside moving around, my battery lasts 2-3 hours. The battery drains faster when I'm moving around than when the phone is still, and it drains even faster when inside transport than walking. How do I REALLY turn location tracking off?

Before anyone says, "maybe your phone has a virus", it was like that with a terrible battery since I brought the phone with a fresh installation, and I installed every app on my phone from Google Play except for Gab.

I have a Samsung Galaxy S6 and Android 6.0.1

Update

I have made the exact same journey with my wifi, mobile data and location off and my battery only drained by 5% in one hour intead of 35% in one hour. As the mobile network tracks my location with all 3 off, the battery drain is not due to the location tracking by my network. It's also not due to any apps, as apps can only track my location when the location is on (of which a window appears asking me if I want to turn location on so the app can use it) and the location icon shows in notifications. Remember that my battery lasts much longer when stationary but abysmal when moving around.

How do I fix this problem?

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    The only way I'd trust to work would be a custom ROM without GApps. Not sure if you'd go for that (remark: I do, and like it that way).
    – Izzy ♦
    Dec 14, 2017 at 14:30
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    @DeathMaskSalesman Indeed – but Marvin is still working on it (I watch the repo). And it works fine, so nothing to complain.
    – Izzy ♦
    Dec 14, 2017 at 15:46
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    @Izzy Sad thing that the LOS team is dead set against signature patching, just as Google is dead set against LOS itself. This kind of attitude will bring demise upon the Android scene in the long run, I say.
    – Grimoire
    Dec 14, 2017 at 16:31
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    @desbest none of us would say that it's a virus, because Android doesn't have viruses, only malware.
    – Wrichik Basu
    Dec 30, 2017 at 7:02
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    Maybe use eelo?
    – beeshyams
    Jan 3, 2018 at 16:21

2 Answers 2

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Even I had read that article, but possibly could do nothing to stop Google. Our lives are so very dependent on Google. We use lots of Google apps like Gmail, Gdrive, YouTube, Chrome, Maps and others. It is not always possible to eliminate Google from our daily lives.

As @Izzy has mentioned, you can flash a custom ROM and remove all google apps. That can eliminate the possibility of your location being sent to Google without your permission. But take that route only if you are sure that you can properly flash a custom ROM, otherwise you may end up with a bricked device.

Other than this, you can disable all Google apps, including PlayStore and Play Services. But I can assure you that many apps (even apps other than those by Google) won't work if you disable the latter.

You can prevent all Google apps and services from getting data access, whether WiFi or cellular. There are very good apps like DataEye which can block specific apps from accessing data connection, including system apps and services. I've been using it mainly to prevent apps from showing up ads, and it works great. In this way, you can stop Play Services from getting data access, but the apps based on Play Services will continue to work.

These are a few of the methods that a layman can use. If you can root your phone, then you can remove all Google apps except PlayStore and Play Services (don't remove these two, otherwise many apps won't function). Other than these, I don't think we can specifically do anything else to stop Google from reading our location.

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Really interesting conversation. In my case when move a lot and not really using my phone I simply set it to the most battery saving mode, it limits CPU speed, disables any kind of networking communication (except for plain phone calls and sms messages) it also disables available sensors. It pretty much turns your phone into a dummy phone. I know it isn't really the solution if you use your phone the way it was intended. But I thought it would help.

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