The English word “tracking” means something like “to follow” in German. GPS tracking makes it possible to track where a device currently is. With GPS technology, the position at which an object is located can be determined using satellite technology. GPS stands for “Global Positioning System”. The position where a person is located can also be determined in this way, as most smartphones are equipped with this technology and GPS data is collected via apps such as Google Maps. In this way, it is possible to track where the person is at the moment, but also where he or she has been in the past.
The GPS function in smartphones is practical because you can, for example, display supermarkets in the vicinity and use the cell phone as a navigation system. However, the location data is always passed on to the provider of the respective app. What happens to this data, however, is difficult to understand. They can tell the provider where someone lives and works. GPS data is also used in forensics.
GPS services can usually be disabled in the device’s settings. When a cell phone is turned off, the location can no longer be determined via GPS. To see for sure that no unnecessary data is collected about you and your family, you should disable location data for those apps that work without GPS. You can also turn off the GPS by default and only enable it when you use Google Maps, for example.
By the way, the location can also be determined via cell phone data. Apps can recognize which cell of the mobile network you have “dialed in” to with your device.
