084 - Turn Off Location Sharing When Needed
“Many apps automatically share your location. Review privacy settings on social media, messaging apps, and phones if safety or harassment is a concern.”
Carrying a smartphone means having a map, a camera, and a translation tool right in your pocket. But these useful devices have a silent habit: they constantly broadcast exactly where you are standing. Many everyday apps, from social media platforms to simple maps, track your physical location continuously in the background.
For marginalized communities, individuals avoiding immigration enforcement, or anyone navigating systemic bias, this digital trail is a serious real-world concern. Your daily routine—where you drop off your kids, where you work, or where you seek community support—should belong to you alone. When apps constantly map your movements, that data can be saved, shared, or accessed by people who do not have your best interests at heart. Protecting your day-to-day safety means deciding exactly when your location is shared and when it stays private.
You don't need to be a technology expert to disappear from these digital radars. Taking control of your phone's tracking features takes less than two minutes.
You can easily secure your movements today with a few straightforward adjustments:
Shut down background tracking: Open your phone’s main Settings menu and select "Privacy" or "Location Services." Review the list of apps. For any app that doesn't strictly need your live coordinates to function, switch its permission to "Never" or "Only While Using the App."
Turn off "Precise Location": In your phone's privacy settings, you can toggle off the "Precise Location" switch for individual apps. This allows an app to see your general city area while completely hiding your exact street address or building.
Pause before posting: When uploading a photo or sending a message on a public platform, double-check that the app isn’t automatically attaching a location tag to your post.
Your whereabouts are your business. Taking charge of these basic settings ensures you can use your phone with confidence, knowing your real-world coordinates stay entirely under your control.
What Now
If you are a marginalized individual or an undocumented community member concerned that continuous smartphone location tracking could compromise your safety, privacy, or physical location, take these immediate actions to secure your digital footprint:
Audit and Restrict Global Location Settings: Open your device’s master settings menu and select "Privacy & Security" followed by "Location Services." Completely toggle off location tracking for non-essential applications, or change permissions from "Always Allow" to "Only While Using the App" to prevent background tracking.
Deactivate Precise Location Capabilities: Within individual app permission menus, toggle off the "Precise Location" switch. This forces applications to only recognize your general city or zip code area, keeping your exact street address, workplace, or home completely hidden from digital collection.
Establish a Safe Communication and Research Routine: When researching local support networks, immigration resources, or community hubs, always use a private or incognito browser window, or utilize a virtual private network (VPN) to mask your device's network location. Avoid posting photos to public social media accounts until you have physically left the venue to eliminate real-time tracking opportunities.
Utilize Technical Self-Defense Blueprints from the EFF: Consult the open-source privacy frameworks curated by the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Their specialized surveillance self-defense modules walk vulnerable individuals step-by-step through locking down device tracking, handling forced device inspections, and keeping metadata secure.
Connect with Immigrant Rights and Legal Defense Authorities: For a broader safety plan regarding potential encounters or community enforcement, rely on vetted nonprofit advocacy tools. Review the extensive "Know Your Rights" toolkits and safety templates provided by the National Immigration Law Center or the American Civil Liberties Union to safeguard yourself and your family.
Local Resources
Lutheran Community Services Northwest https://lcsnw.org/office/vancouver/
(360) 694-5624
Clark County Volunteer Lawyers Program https://ccvlp.org/
(360) 695-5313
Northwest Justice Project https://nwjustice.org/
(360) 693-6130
