Culture
Apps Don't Need GPS Data to Know Where You Are
We’re creatures of habit. And for some third-party apps, that means we’re easy to find.
As you go through you daily routine—home, cafe, work, gym—your phone scans all of the Wi-Fi networks you pass through, public and private. In cities, it registers hundreds of routers and access points every day, even if you only connect to a handful of them — and even when you’ve manually turned Wi-Fi off.
Phone makers including Google, Apple, and Microsoft have access to vast chronologies of your phone’s Wi-Fi scans. The majority of apps for Android have this access, too.