Five Minutes to Cut What Your Phone Reveals
Monday's issue was about ID checks that collect too much. Wednesday's was about a mobile ID that shares one fact. Your phone leaks in quieter ways too, mostly through permissions you granted once and forgot. This is a five-minute pass for iPhone and Android.
Step 1: Fix location (2 minutes)
Most apps don't need to know where you are all the time, or exactly where.
iPhone: Settings > Privacy & Security > Location Services. Tap an app, choose While Using the App (or Never), and switch off Precise Location if it doesn't need your exact spot.
Android: Settings > Location > App location permissions. Tap an app, choose Allow only while using the app (or Not allowed), and switch off Use precise location.
Step 2: See what your apps actually did (1 minute)
iPhone: turn on App Privacy Report (Settings > Privacy & Security > App Privacy Report). It starts empty, then shows the past 7 days of apps touching sensitive data and which domains they contact. Apple says it stays on your device.
Android: Settings > Security & privacy (or Privacy) > Privacy dashboard. Pick a permission, like location, to see which apps used it and when, then tap an app to change it. Google says the history covers 7 days on Android 13 and 24 hours on Android 12.
Step 3: Check your wallet (2 minutes)
Apple Wallet: Apple says a store or app gets a device-specific account number, not your card number. Apple also keeps anonymous transaction details, like the approximate amount, app, and time, which it says aren't linked to you.
Google Wallet: open the app, tap your profile picture, then Your data in Wallet. Review Personalize across Google and Google Wallet history, and switch off what you don't want. For one pass, open it, tap Details, and turn off Use pass across Google.
The honest limits
Menu names change with your phone maker and software version, so match the label, not the exact path.
App Privacy Report only collects once you turn it on. Check it again in a week.
Fewer permissions can break features like maps and weather. You can switch an app back to "while using."
Google says it still uses some data for fraud prevention and security, and that can't be turned off.
Quick tip
When an app asks for your location, pick the "while using" or one-time option unless it truly needs you to be tracked in the background.
Up next · Monday
This week's privacy news, one story, clearly explained.