Can smart phone GPS be switched off?

[JackSinclair]

There is a current discussion going on regarding Thai authorities wanting to track arrivals via GPS on their smart phones.

Some posters say the GPS cannot be switched off, others disagree. 
It's like panto "Oh yes you can -----  Oh no you can't   "
The  display gives me the choice of switching off the following - WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS. I can also just switch the fn thing off and

in the extreme remove the battery.

I also have the option to install NordVPN would that change anything?
Is there a ghost in the machine or not? 55555

[kekalot]

gps can be turned off on most devices, some might not but they would be quite <deleted>.

if you press that button, gps is off. they can still mess around with finding whereabouts even with GPS off tho

 

If the government wants and has access to enough devices, they could track your whereabouts just by you having WIFI on because it constantly scans for routers and your physical address of your phone never changes

 

so when you get this "free wifi" at airport and you need to provide IDs, they get your MAC address on that device and can pair it to your name and it can certainly be tracked that way

if you drove/walked by my place, my router can intercept this phone scanning for wifi and "IF I knew which MAC address you are (by having databases from airports, etc) then i can know you came by

then you can extrapolate that to ISPs might be logging all this stuff and you could in theory be tracked very closely, how long you stayed X and Y, at what times and can tell where you went after by having other devices catch you

 

this stuff is already in place, there are a minimum of 7 routers picking up my phone right now

 

https://www.pcworld.com/article/3315197/free-wi-fi-hotspots-can-track-your-location-even-when-you-arent-connected.html

 

 

 

[OneMoreFarang]

If you want to be 100% sure remove the battery.

 

It's like that little red light on the camera. If the light is not on doesn't mean the camera is not on. ???? 

[fdsa]

15 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

If you want to be 100% sure remove the battery.

 

It's like that little red light on the camera. If the light is not on doesn't mean the camera is not on. ???? 

 

This is the only possible and correct answer to OP's question.

 

If you want to know how deep does the rabbit hole go - start with this thread: https://c.mi.com/thread-2254781-1-0.html

then google around technical details on "how modem works" and "how sim card works".

Example queries: "qualcomm rex os", "threadx os", "modem operating systems".

[Nout]

21 minutes ago, OneMoreFarang said:

If you want to be 100% sure remove the battery.

 

It's like that little red light on the camera. If the light is not on doesn't mean the camera is not on. ???? 

Is 'the battery' behind the small bakelite panel fastened down with a small brass screw?

[tifino]

who's to say the manufacturers haven't already embedded RFiD into the plastic of a phone body?? 

 

the  mobile phones fractal antenna would be an ideal structure to somehow mount it into... 

[fdsa]

2 hours ago, JackSinclair said:

The  display gives me the choice of switching off the following - WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS.

The display gives you the choice of displaying various icons: "WiFi switched on", "WiFi switched off", and so on. What the phone actually does when you click on that icon is sends a command to the underlying controller like "please dear sir turn the WiFi off" and it does not guarantee that the WiFi will be really switched off because it is up to the controller's operating system to obey or to ignore that command.

 

The only possible way to guarantee that some subsystem is really switched off is to physically disconnect it from the power source.

Some people have realized it several years ago and started to implement such hardware switches in their phones, google "librem 5" and "pinephone".

 

[OneMoreFarang]

10 hours ago, fdsa said:

13 hours ago, JackSinclair said:

The  display gives me the choice of switching off the following - WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS.

The display gives you the choice of displaying various icons: "WiFi switched on", "WiFi switched off", and so on. What the phone actually does when you click on that icon is sends a command to the underlying controller like "please dear sir turn the WiFi off" and it does not guarantee that the WiFi will be really switched off because it is up to the controller's operating system to obey or to ignore that command.

 

The only possible way to guarantee that some subsystem is really switched off is to physically disconnect it from the power source.

Some people have realized it several years ago and started to implement such hardware switches in their phones, google "librem 5" and "pinephone".

Some time ago I worked on a notebook from a friend. WiFi didn't work. There was a WiFi switch on the keyboard and next to it a light. The light was on. That convinced me that the WiFi was internally switched on. After trying this and that I thought "just try that on/off switch and switch WiFi off and then on again". And what happened? Like described above, the light was on. And I thought I switch if off. But what actually happend was that the light switched from orange (off) to blue (on). Grrrrrr. So much about on and off. ????

Also recently on a new Samsung monitor: I plugged it in and the blue light was on but I didn't see anything on the screen. Then I pressed the switch. The blue light went out and the monitor was on - what a "logic".

[mtls2005]

Within Android you can disable Location on an application by application basis.

 

My sense is that the authorities here want to be able to see where you've been, not where you are right now, for purposes of contact tracing.

 

I mean if they want to find you they can call you. 

 

You may have agreed to some legal responsibility as part of your entry into Thailand. The mandatory use of an application may be required. Just make sure you read and understand anything you agree to.

 

I think some of these GPS tracking sub-apps do consume quite a bit of battery power. The Thai apps - there are at least two (MorChana and Thailand Plus) - have suffered from this shortfall, that and using too much data. Maybe they are using too short a reporting window?

 

13 hours ago, JackSinclair said:

There is a current discussion going on regarding Thai authorities wanting to track arrivals via GPS on their smart phones.

Some posters say the GPS cannot be switched off, others disagree. 

 

What is it that you're worried about? Or what is it that you want to do?

 

 

 

 

 

 

[thaibeachlovers]

14 hours ago, JackSinclair said:

There is a current discussion going on regarding Thai authorities wanting to track arrivals via GPS on their smart phones.

Some posters say the GPS cannot be switched off, others disagree. 
It's like panto "Oh yes you can -----  Oh no you can't   "
The  display gives me the choice of switching off the following - WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS. I can also just switch the fn thing off and

in the extreme remove the battery.

I also have the option to install NordVPN would that change anything?
Is there a ghost in the machine or not? 55555

I saw a tv show about that. The guy removed his battery, but when he replaced it they still had tracked him. Don't ask me for tech details, as I'm not computer savvy- I'm just reporting what I saw.

 

Regardless, I assume any electronic device to be passing on everywhere I go, as big tech have apparently monetised our entire existence. Al Jazeera did a documentary about it- very scary 1984 stuff.

 

Only way to be sure is not take the phone. I never had one till I got married and it's not necessary in LOS, unless working.

 

If I went to LOS now and they demanded I be tracked they'd have to buy me a phone as I don't have one of that sort.

[bwanajohn]

My wife's phone sends he a report every few months detailing her movements and even breaks it down between number of kilometers travelled by car or motorbike and as it's from google lists what Google map identified businesses and sites she visited

[thaibeachlovers]

12 minutes ago, mtls2005 said:

What is it that you're worried about? Or what is it that you want to do?

Do you like Big Brother knowing where you are? If they get away with all this thin end of the wedge stuff, how long before they just implant a tracker in people? I'd agree that criminals get a tracker, but IMO non criminals need to have privacy, unless they choose to be tracked.

If the government wants to track people for corona, they can give people a smart card to carry when out that doesn't record every thing people say on the phone and everything they text, every web site they look at etc.

[Dazinoz]

Before GPS added to "smart phones" you could be tracked on your old phone. And accurately too.

 

How do I know this? I used to work with a girl who's brother worked for my country's spy agency. He lived about 2000km from her in a capital city. She told me 2 stories about tracking. One time she decided to pay him a visit but did not tell him. When she arrived at the airport in his city she received a phone call from him asking her why she had not told him she was coming and wait at airport for him to pick her up. He knew exactly where she was and was alerted to this.

 

The second story was she was in the main city area of his city shopping. He was to pick her up when she was ready and from where she ended up. She was down a side road off the main drag when he stopped next to her in his car and asked was she ready. She asked him how he knew where she was and his answer was something like lucky I guess. She didn't detail any more stories but did say more situations like this had happened. She fully expected the agency he worked for had more sophisticated equipment than the average person knew about (obvious) and when she broached the matter he would just change subject.

 

Some will say they can triangulate phone cell signals and they can but not to the accuracy of what he can do especially back then.

[wombat]

39 minutes ago, mtls2005 said:

 

 

I mean if they want to find you they can call you. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Lol...don't you be confusing the issue now with logic.

[mtls2005]

Just to be very clear...GPS satellites do not track anything. They are one-way radios. Your phone does not communicate to a GPS satellite. Your phone uses the GPS satellites to determine its /your location. Your location may then be shared via BT, WiFi, mobile data via another app.

 

In Android, in addition to turning off Location services, one can spoof or mock the location.

 

Enable Developer Options (click on Build Number five times). This does not void any phone SW license agreement.

 

Install one of the many mock gps apps from the Play Store

 

Select mock location app from Developer Options.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Dazinoz]

17 minutes ago, mtls2005 said:

Just to be very clear...GPS satellites do not track anything. They are one-way radios. Your phone does not communicate to a GPS satellite. Your phone uses the GPS satellites to determine its /your location. Your location may then be shared via BT, WiFi, mobile data via another app.

 

In Android, in addition to turning off Location services, one can spoof or mock the location.

 

Enable Developer Options (click on Build Number five times). This does not void any phone SW license agreement.

 

Install one of the many mock gps apps from the Play Store

 

Select mock location app from Developer Options.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Read my post above. If they want to track you they can and don't need GPS.

 

[Henricus]

When you come to Thailand and 1 of the demands is that you need a tracking App, accept this or stay away ,EASY just follow the rules.

normal people have nothing to hide, only criminals.

[mtls2005]

34 minutes ago, Dazinoz said:

Read my post above. If they want to track you they can and don't need GPS.

 

Sure Smiley.

 

 

 

[PatOngo]

Location can be turned off but phones can be tracked by the battery!

[papa al]

1 hour ago, bwanajohn said:

My wife's phone sends he a report every few months detailing her movements and even breaks it down between number of kilometers travelled by car or motorbike and as it's from google lists what Google map identified businesses and sites she visited

Very impressed that it can differentiate between travel in M/c and car.!!

 

[CharlieH]

If you have nothing to hide, why the paranoia. Being able to backtrack your movements or locations could even get you out of some problems too.(IMHO)

 

[Dazinoz]

2 minutes ago, papa al said:

Very impressed that it can differentiate between travel in M/c and car.!!

 

Possible by speed but I doubt  very much it can differentiate, even with modern technology.

[mikeymike100]

37 minutes ago, Henricus said:

When you come to Thailand and 1 of the demands is that you need a tracking App, accept this or stay away ,EASY just follow the rules.

normal people have nothing to hide, only criminals.

I think you are totally missing the point!! Do you work for the Government, any Government???

[Dazinoz]

18 minutes ago, PatOngo said:

Location can be turned off but phones can be tracked by the battery!

I cant find anything  on Google to suggest this can you provide link please.

 

[Dazinoz]

31 minutes ago, Henricus said:

When you come to Thailand and 1 of the demands is that you need a tracking App, accept this or stay away ,EASY just follow the rules.

normal people have nothing to hide, only criminals.

I have nothing to hide I just don't like anyone knowing exactly where I am when on holidays.

 

But like I said in a previous post if they really want to track you they can without your permission. An app gives them permission and makes it easier for them.

[PatOngo]

1 hour ago, Dazinoz said:

I cant find anything  on Google to suggest this can you provide link please.

 

 

 

Mobile

• Security Center 
•  Mobile 
•  Can a mobile phone battery track you?

Can a mobile phone battery track you?

[Dazinoz]

1 hour ago, PatOngo said:

 

 

 

Mobile

• Security Center 
•  Mobile 
•  Can a mobile phone battery track you?

Can a mobile phone battery track you?

If you read the article its not tracking the battery but the battery status API when the phone is switched on.

 

https://www.macworld.com/article/3105005/os-x/privacy-problems-on-the-web-even-your-devices-battery-life-can-be-used-to-track-you.html

 

 

[mikeymike100]

6 minutes ago, Dazinoz said:

I have nothing to hide I just don't like anyone knowing exactly where I am when on holidays.

 

But like I said in a previous post if they really want to track you they can without your permission. An app gives them permission and makes it easier for them.

I agree with your sentiment. Basically tracking people is like been treated the same as a criminal, when you are not a criminal

The only way to not be tracked is to take the battery out and put your phone in the fridge, not the freezer!! 

[Mavideol]

14 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

If you want to be 100% sure remove the battery.

 

It's like that little red light on the camera. If the light is not on doesn't mean the camera is not on. ???? 

only see a small problem here.... many new phones don't allow access/or extremely difficult  to remove the battery

[Fat is a type of crazy]

42 minutes ago, CharlieH said:

If you have nothing to hide, why the paranoia. Being able to backtrack your movements or locations could even get you out of some problems too.(IMHO)

 

During a pandemic - no problem. But by that logic you wouldn't mind being traced each and every step. You don't have to be paranoid or be doing bad things to want to live with a sense of freedom that no one knows where you are.