Google Tracks Android Phone Locations Every 15 Minutes
Experts are sounding the alarm: the company is watching everything. They analyze downloaded apps, photos, and even calculations in the calculator.
American experts from Cybernews tested the Google Pixel 9 Pro XL for hidden activity. It turned out that Google sends location data to its servers several times an hour. Even disabling GPS doesn't help.
Every 15 minutes, the Pixel 9 Pro XL sends a data package to Google. The device shares its location, email address, phone number, network status, and other telemetry data.
If the owner of an Android smartphone disables GPS in settings, Google is still able to determine the geolocation using data about connected Wi-Fi points. Furthermore, Google collects information about the network status, operator, lists of downloaded applications, including programs not installed from Google Play, the number of reboots, and the time elapsed since the phone was turned on.
Sometimes Google services have been linked to applications that the person never launched, such as Google Maps, Gmail, or Chrome. In particular, the phone could send data about faces from Google Photos, even though the user never opened the app or uploaded photos to it. Even the "Calculator" app is subject to tracking. Google collects data about calculations and also sends it to its servers.
In addition, Google has been accused of being able to remotely modify the operating system code, without notifying the user, to remove or install applications and various software. However, such cases have not been confirmed yet. Experts believe that such activity is a potential "window" for malicious actors. Hackers can use Android options to secretly load malicious code onto devices.
"Pixel 9 Pro XL repeatedly uses PII for authentication, configuration, and logging. This practice does not align with best industry practices for anonymization and seems excessive," say analysts.
Researchers from Cybernews have submitted their findings to Google to obtain a response, but the company has not yet responded.
Previously, the network learned that Samsung and LG smart TVs make a screenshot every second of what you are watching.