[SOLVED] Easy way to enable/disable Location History?

[littlebigman]

Hello,

Weeks ago, I disabled Google Location History (https://myaccount.google.com/activitycontrols/location) when I found on the Timeline (https://www.google.com/maps/timeline) that it meant Google knew my whereabouts every single day :-/

But now it's off, pictures I take with my cheap compact camera are no longer geolocated after they're uploaded to Google Photos.

Is there a simple and reliable way to turn Location History on and off just for that purpose? I remember turning it off was a bit involved.

FWIW, I use Maps.me as my GPS application.

https://ibb.co/VwctCgt

Thank you.

 

[B. Diddy]

Re: Easy way to enable/disable Location History?

It's not a simple one-tap solution, but you can do it on your phone: Settings>Location>Google Location History​, and then turn off the toggle.

 

[Rukbat]

Re: Easy way to enable/disable Location History?

Or you can just pull the notification bar down and turn off Location. Then your location will on;y be approximate. Turn it on for taking pictures, then turn it off again.

(And for your edification, those few Google employees who have access to your account know better than to access it. That's immediate, "be walked out the door" firing, the police are waiting outside the door for the employee, and any job "reference" after that will include the fact that the employee violated the law, along with the details. A shotgun under the chin is a faster and easier way to die. Aside from the fact that those few employees [and there are only a few] have too much legitimate work to do already - if they wasted time looking at your location history, they'd get fired for non-performance. [I've been there - with the addition that the records I had access to - and accessed regularly to fix errors - were HIPPA records. By the time I was looking ar the second record, I couldn't tell you anything about the first record if my life depended on it. If, say, I had to fix the area code, because the person was on vacation and just gave the 7 digit number, and they entered it with the local area code (Chicago is not 631), I'd see the area code and city and state, change it to 312 (which was the only one for Chicago at the time), then move on. Whose record was it? I had no idea, and I didn't care. When you have 20,000 records to go through like that, you don't spend time looking at the person's name.])

 

[littlebigman]

Re: Easy way to enable/disable Location History?

Thanks for the tips… but no go.

I unpaused Google Location History through the following menus on my Xiaomi's smartphone:


Went out, launched Maps.me to be located, checked that the location was correct, took some pictures using my GPS-incapable compact camera.

Back at home, uploaded the pics to Google Photos, and… "Where was this taken?" :-/

 

[B. Diddy]

Re: Easy way to enable/disable Location History?

Sorry, I misunderstood your original question. You're trying to geolocate a photo that was taken by a standalone camera without GPS after uploading it to Google Photos? I don't see how that's possible, since the camera wouldn't have been able to include any location information in the EXIF data, and Google Photos can't make any kind of guess as to where the photos was taken.

 

[littlebigman]

Re: Easy way to enable/disable Location History?

It used to work before I disabled it when I found out Google had been following them for a few years now.

It's very simple:

1. As long as a data connection is up, Google tracks your whereabouts
2. Each picture taken with a GPS-deprived camera has a date + time
3. When uploading pictures to Google Photos, Google matches each picture with your location at that date + time.

Yes, I was also surprised the first time I saw locations turn up in Google Photos

Now, I just need to find out how to unpause/repause Google Location History…

 

[mustang7757]

Re: Easy way to enable/disable Location History?

It used to work before I disabled it when I found out Google had been following them for a few years now.

It's very simple:

1. As long as a data connection is up, Google tracks your whereabouts
2. Each picture taken with a GPS-deprived camera has a date + time
3. When uploading pictures to Google Photos, Google matches each picture with your location at that date + time.

Yes, I was also surprised the first time I saw locations turn up in Google Photos

Now, I just need to find out how to unpause/repause Google Location History…

Which phone your using?

 

[littlebigman]

Re: Easy way to enable/disable Location History?

Xiaomi Redmi Note 5 currently running Android 9.

 

[littlebigman]

Re: Easy way to enable/disable Location History?

Found it. It's easier to do this on the web than having to find where that section is located on your phone:



After you've re-enabled location tracking, it may take a few minutes for the location to pop up for a picture in Google Photos.

I think this is the article I used months ago to turn location track off:
https://www.wired.com/story/google-location-tracking-turn-off/

Thanks everyone.