How do you stop apps and websites from tracking you
Any app or website you open gathers your information to create a model experience. Without this data, a portion of the administrations could restrict usability or cease to function. This is profitable for some apps and websites, but there are ways of restricting the information you submit and clearing any gathered information.
How do apps and websites track your data?
Any form of app usage or web browsing creates a profile that aggregates the user into categories for apps and websites to track them. There are plenty of ways these apps and websites collect your data for various purposes. Meta’s Facebook motto is connecting people together, but it generates revenue through targeted ads. They get user consent without clear methods on how they handle your data and embed the agreement in the Terms & Conditions without it being expressed plainly
One of the basic components of a website is to understand user navigation and preference so that every recurring visit will improve their experience. Browsers have a built-in system that measures and understands users who frequently visit a website or who are first-time visitors.
Cookies
What are cookies?
Cookies are little data files that are transmitted to your web browser and then saved on your device's hard drive. Cookies are critical to providing adequate operations and conveying legitimate functions like website login credentials, language options, as well as information about how long a user stays on a page and/or what they access on the website. They’re present to improve a website's user experience for both new and returning visitors. The cookies come with different purposes for user enhancement and other purposes.
Third-party cookies
Third-party cookies assemble data for quantifiable measuring using cookies from third parties. They monitor browsing activity and optimize the pages you frequently visit to suit any particular needs for the future. These assessments can follow how long people spend on the site and how they remain on a particular page. It reveals a viewer’s initial visit to the website and, likewise, shows the number of visitors who remain on a particular page. For example, if you’re shopping online on an eCommerce website, the cookies of that website will know your log-in information so that you don’t have to submit your credentials every time you open the page.
These third-party cookies can track your web activity and permit companies to send targeted ads that suit your preferences and your internet browsing history.
Location tracking
Many apps ask permission to access your Location upon using their services. Each smartphone has a built-in GPS to help with apps that require your location. Google Maps is an app that is dedicated to directing you to a selected destination. But often, the GPS is always activated and saves your location even if you’re not using the app.
Mobile identifiers
A mobile device identifier acts as a personal identifier for any iOS or Android device. It’s a series of numbers and letters that warrants advertisers to monitor app downloads and details on how they use it. A great advantage is that they can produce intel for marketing and advertising purposes.
How to stop them
The reality is that your data does not belong to you. Your collected data is aggregated with millions of other profiles that share common search history and interests. That’s why you receive targeted ads that know what you want. Luckily, there are ways to remove yourself from the map.
Disabling cookies
Plenty of websites will prompt you with a choice to accept all cookies or reject them. You might get the occasional “customize cookies” but you’re still in a predicament on how you can choose to view the website. On a macroscale, you can disable cookies on any browser at any time. Different browsers have different navigation settings that allow you to block, delete, and permit cookies.
It’s important to know that changing the settings on your browser to refuse all cookies may lead you to limited features on these websites and technical difficulties.
In this guide, we’ll show you how to delete cookies if you opt to do so.
Chrome
With Chrome, click on the three dots in the upper right corner and then select Settings.
Next, click on Privacy and Security
Over here, you have the option, to begin with, Clearing browsing data or Cookies and other site data.
If you chose to opt for the former, then you can select a time range in which you want to clear cookies and get more options in the Advanced menu.
The latter will give you plenty of options to customize how you want cookies disabled or removed.
Safari
On Safari, click on Preferences
Select Privacy > Cookies and website data
Edge
With Edge browser, click on three dots on the right-hand corner and click on Settings
Select Cookies and site permissions.
Once you have clicked it, select Manage and delete cookies and site data
Toggle Block third-party cookies
Disabling or resetting mobile identifiers
You can disable mobile IDs that are connected to your device whenever you want. For Apple users, you can go to Advertising & Privacy on iOS devices and Google's page on Managing your Google Settings on Android devices both include instructions.
How to stop apps from live-tracking you on iOS and Android
Some apps automatically run in the background and track your location even if you didn’t activate them. Here’s a guide on how to disable location tracking:
Android
Android is supported on many devices, so depending on your phone, you’ll have to see the custom launchers that are default with your device. But generally speaking, there shouldn’t be a major difference. In this example, we’ll show you how how to disable location on Samsung Android 12 devices:
- Open Settings
- Find Location
- Click on App permissions
Tap on each app on the list to disable them from tracking you when the app is not activated.
iOS
- Open Settings
- Access Location Services
- Select which apps you don’t want location to work.
In both cases, some apps don’t need to be actively tracking your location even if you’re not using that particular app.