How to Turn Off Location Sharing on Chrome

Who knew there would come a time when paper maps will go almost extinct and be replaced by small devices in our pockets. Furthermore, these devices would be smart enough to scan the locality and suggest the nearest restaurants, café, hotels, or any destination that we want to reach. Well, this is all possible because of the miraculous algorithms behind online location trackers.

Location tracking is so universal now that you find it on all the maps that have anything to do, even slightly, with places. Needless to say, you have this feature on all the smart devices as well, such as smartphones, tablets, smart watches, etc.

No matter how comfortable you might feel while using the location-tracking feature, keep in mind that the experience isn’t always pleasant.

From tagging photos of different places on social media or checking into hotels or cafés, we tend to forget that we leave clear online footprints of our activities.

Therefore, it is imperative to learn how to turn off location sharing on Chrome and avoid any potential risks to our privacy and security.

It is also necessary to take extra measures rather than just turning location sharing off, e.g., Spoofing your location by using VPN.

Spoof your location

Because Your Privacy Matters

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Geolocation Tracking Comes With Privacy and Security Risks

Location tracking may be convenient. But if the location data gets into the wrong hands, it won’t only become unpleasant but also fairly dangerous. By pinpointing your location and keeping tabs on your every move, a cyber stalker or any other cybercriminal can know a lot about you such as your behavior, your daily routines, your interest, and more.

In fact, by giving away your actual location, you are inviting just about everyone to easily track you back to your home and know where you live. Same is true if it is the device of your partner, siblings or children. Location tracking can become pretty dangerous for the safety and security of you and your loved ones.

Moreover, it is not just the cybercriminals who use the trackers to locate your current whereabouts but also government agencies as well. In fact, there have been incidents related to an app that allowed a law enforcement agency to track a user’s location in real-time, which would otherwise require a court order.

Therefore, if you want to keep your activities private and don’t want others to follow your every move, it is best to disable location tracking applications and services.

How to Turn Off Location Sharing on Chrome

You might be wondering at this point: why is Chrome location tracking the focus of our guide? For starters, Chrome is the most used browser on the planet. In fact, as of 2019, Google Chrome has a worldwide market share of 61.72%, followed by Safari, 15.23%, and the rest.

Moreover, Google Chrome’s location tracking feature is more refined and efficient, compared to other browsers with geo-tracking ability.

Regardless, following are some easy-to-follow tutorials on disabling Chrome’s location tracking on different devices.

Disable Chrome Location Tracker on Desktop (Browser)

  • Launch Chrome browser on your Desktop
  • Click Chrome’s Menu icon and then go to Settings
  • Scroll down and click to open Advanced
  • Go to Content Settings under the Privacy and security section
  • Go to Location and toggle on Ask before accessing (recommended)

Note: On the Content Settings window, you can set other features to “ask before accessing” as well such as camera, microphone, notifications, etc.

Block Chrome Location Tracking on Android

  • Open your Android device and go to Settings
  • Tap and open Location (or, go to Connection on Samsung device)
  • Tap Chrome
  • Tap Permissions and toggle off Location

Turn off Location Tracking in Chrome on iPhone

  • Tap Settings on your Home screen
  • Scroll down to find and go to Chrome
  • Under Chrome settings, tap Location
  • Set the Location settings to Never
  • Once done, your iPhone’s Chrome browser won’t track your location

VPN is the Perfect Tool for Anonymizing Your Location

If you believe disabling the location tracker in your Chrome browser would keep you off the radar, then you couldn’t be more wrong. After all, you might need Chrome’s GPS at some point or another.

The best way to truly hide your location or spoof it is by setting up a VPN.

PureVPN owns an extensive pool of IP addresses, originating from different locations. Currently, you get over 300,000+ anonymous IPs from 180+ locations such as Germany, the US, the UK, Canada, Brazil, and more. By spoofing your real location with an anonymous IP, you can be assured that nobody is tracking you whatsoever, and even if anybody is, then they are on a wild goose chase.

Anonymity aside, you also get to shield your important data against hacking attempts, surveillance or spying with our 256-bit encryption, which is the same technology used by the military and other government agencies.

So, secure your anonymity today by encrypting your traffic and spoofing your location with PureVPN.

Get Yourself Secured Because your Privacy Matters

Want to reclaim your online privacy? You might want to check below how to delete your account guides of social media platforms: