Can smart phone GPS be switched off?

[mtls2005]

35 minutes ago, PatOngo said:

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

 

By whom? How? Using which applications?

 

If it's an application (Fused Location Provider API) then Location can be disabled.

 

 

[OneMoreFarang]

15 minutes ago, Mavideol said:

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

I am sure our conspiracy minded friends do know exactly why that is the way it is.

[CharlieH]

12 minutes ago, Fat is a type of crazy said:

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. 

Honestly, I couldnt careless, I am sure that whoever can be bothered watching me has much more important and more deserved candidates than watching me go to Makro or eating noodles in local cafe ! Fill your boots mate ????????

[OneMoreFarang]

1 minute ago, mtls2005 said:

52 minutes ago, PatOngo said:

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

 

By whom? How? Using which applications?

I am not sure it that is what PatOngo was referring to.

Applications can request the status of the phone battery. The original idea behind that was that if the battery gets low certain functions will be disabled. 

But the information about the battery status is extreme exact. So if a provider would just look at the exact battery charge of i.e. 1,000 phones he would still know which phone is which. One of those (probably) unintended special functions...

 

[PatOngo]

1 minute ago, OneMoreFarang said:

I am not sure it that is what PatOngo was referring to.

Applications can request the status of the phone battery. The original idea behind that was that if the battery gets low certain functions will be disabled. 

But the information about the battery status is extreme exact. So if a provider would just look at the exact battery charge of i.e. 1,000 phones he would still know which phone is which. One of those (probably) unintended special functions...

 

 

I'm not paranoid! Who said I was paranoid? Why are you looking at Me? It was'nt me! ???? ????

[OneMoreFarang]

9 minutes ago, Fat is a type of crazy said:

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. 

The problem is that by now it's really difficult not to get tracked.

Sure, if people don't use mobile phones or any electronic devices then it is possible. But if people like to use a mobile phone or have it just in their pocket in case they want to use it then there is already no privacy anymore. The phone has a microphone, a camera, a GPS receiver, WLAN, accelerator, and and and. 

 

Better get used to no privacy. Because if the phone or the provider or the app developers tell you something is off doesn't mean it is off.

[OneMoreFarang]

2 minutes ago, PatOngo said:

 

I'm not paranoid! Who said I was paranoid? Why are you looking at Me? It was'nt me! ???? ????

“Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't after you.” Joseph Heller, Catch-22

[RocketDog]

3 hours ago, mtls2005 said:

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?

 

 

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

I keep the GPS turned off by default. I enable it only when I need it for maps or navigation. Lots of reasons such as battery drain, privacy, etc. Same for Bluetooth and NFC options. These are all conduits to whatever data the phone holds that I reflexively don't care to share. 

 

As far tracking, anybody that has access to cell towers can track you as long as you have mobile data enabled. Same for Wi-Fi as others have said. 

 

I use my phone mostly at home with my router behind a VPN. I seldom carry my phone when I go out unless I specifically need it. I don't consider it a life essential, comfort animal, or security blanket. The reality is that it's a personal tracker and personal information archive if you let it be. 

 

Edited February 22, 2021 by RocketDog
Addition

[mtls2005]

8 minutes ago, RocketDog said:

As far tracking, anybody that has access to cell towers can track you as long as you have mobile data enabled.

No.

 

With signifcant effort, and simultaneous access to all service provider's networks, you may be able to roughly locate a phone, assuming you have the IMEI, and or number, down to a large-ish area. It might be easier to ring the chap and ask where he is?

 

8 minutes ago, RocketDog said:

Same for Wi-Fi as others have said. 

And no.

 

Not without phishing their current IP address.

 

 

 

 

 

[Peterphuket]

Of course you can switch off GPS but when somebody steal your, or you lose your (i)phone i think "search my phone" it not working too anymore.

[digger70]

15 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. ???? 

Removing the Battery is a big problem with Many Smart phones ,They're Built In the Phone and can't be taken out that easy/if at all.

[SCOTT FITZGERSLD]

3 hours ago, Dazinoz said:

She fully expected the agency he worked for had more sophisticated equipment

indeed it is true, but the kind of equipment and manpower needed for such accurate tracking is only

available to top agencies, and propably will not be used in thailand.

interesting to mention what was used in israel until few months ago, which used the secret services to track peoples location very accurately, and tell if they walked in the street besides someone who turned covid positive. than an SMS was sent to that person, commanding him to get immidiately into 14 days quarantine. there was a heated debate about the legality and accuracy of this tracking, and aventually

they stopped it because 40% of the popultation got those urgent SMSss.

 

the solution is simple: just leave your phone at home, or tied to your cat, or take out the battery.

[OneMoreFarang]

49 minutes ago, digger70 said:

16 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. ???? 

Removing the Battery is a big problem with Many Smart phones ,They're Built In the Phone and can't be taken out that easy/if at all.

Yes, that's right.

But it doesn't change anything on my original statement.

As long as the battery is in the phone you can't be sure that the GPS, or anything else, is off.

[CaptainCarrot]

I keep my phone under my tinfoil hat! Let them try to find me then!

[fdsa]

I really like it how the "agencies" with the help of Hollywood drew a picture in people's minds that they require complex large and heavy special equipment to track someone's movements or to hack remotely into someone's computer, while in reality it takes nothing more than a laptop and a few mouse clicks.

And the beerheads general public really believe that "removing a permission" in their smartphone or "installing firewall" in their windows will protect them from tracking or data theft.

You don't even realize the depth of the rabbit's hole and how bad things really are.

[1FinickyOne]

just leave your phone home.. that'll teach them a lesson.

[Henricus]

4 hours ago, mikeymike100 said:

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

Never missing the point and never works for any Government, why you think that.

 if you have nothing to hide then they can know where I am or going.

[lesmac]

Buy a cheap smart phone, register that 1 and just leave it at home, take it too the 7 or for a walk to make then think it's active 

[Dazinoz]

2 hours ago, 1FinickyOne said:

just leave your phone home.. that'll teach them a lesson.

According to some TVF members they probably can track you by your brainwaves.

[mtls2005]

2 hours ago, fdsa said:

You don't even realize the depth of the rabbit's hole and how bad things really are.

 

Can you share your wisdom?

 

How can we realize something if you don't tell us?

 

And how deep is that rabbit hole?

 

Or are you just into making vague ominous pronouncements?

 

 

 

 

 

[JackSinclair]

Thanks for the replies,  it was just a technical question as my expertise is in mechanical stuff (cave man with a torch) ????

 

Unfortunately spoiled by the usual replies from the binary thinkers (eg   if you don't like it don't come / go home / track me while I  only eat noodles.

 

I have nothing to hide but I still have to wear trousers.

[VBF]

30 minutes ago, Dazinoz said:

According to some TVF members they probably can track you by your brainwaves.

Those particular TVF members probably have little in the way of brainwaves ????

[Dazinoz]

1 minute ago, VBF said:

Those particular TVF members probably have little in the way of brainwaves ????

True.

[fdsa]

2 minutes ago, mtls2005 said:

 

Can you share your wisdom?

 

How can we realize something if you don't tell us?

 

And how deep is that rabbit hole?

 

Or are you just into making vague ominous pronouncements?

 

 

 

 

 

 

Begin with the basics: learn how does your computer or smartphone boot up.

I mean not the "I press the power button and 20 seconds later I'm asked to input my password" but the technical details: in which sequence every single chip on the motherboard gets powered on, and what every chip does.

Example google queries: "smm rootkit", "rakshasa rootkit", "intel me rootkit".

 

If you will still think that you own your phone or computer and can secure it from the operating system level then I will guide you to the more advanced queries.

[fdsa]

Fun facts:

- every single computer runs at least 5 (FIVE) operating systems simultaneously, while users have [limited] control only after 1 (one) of them, commonly known as "Windows" or "Mac OS" or whatever.

- every single smartphone runs at least 3 operating systems simultaneously, while users have [very limited] control only after one of them, commonly known as "Android" or "iOS" or whatever.

[Dazinoz]

2 minutes ago, fdsa said:

 

Begin with the basics: learn how does your computer or smartphone boot up.

I mean not the "I press the power button and 20 seconds later I'm asked to input my password" but the technical details: in which sequence every single chip on the motherboard gets powered on, and what every chip does.

Example google queries: "smm rootkit", "rakshasa rootkit", "intel me rootkit".

 

If you will still think that you own your phone or computer and can secure it from the operating system level then I will guide you to the more advanced queries.

I am an apple fan but the latest iPhone 12 proves your point. Some YouTuber bought 2 identical 12s. First he opened the first to check how easy to get parts out. He then did the same to the second. He swapped parts from one to the other. The phone with swapped parts did not work or did strange things. He then put all parts back into original phones and both worked perfectly. So every part is registered to its own phone.

 

Hmmm, what was my point again? 

[ukrules]

21 hours ago, kekalot said:

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

There's another thing that cell phones are constantly scanning for and that's cell towers.

 

This is the ultimate tracking tool.

 

Putting it into airplane mode disables this but then your phone is disconnected from everything, essentially it becomes a clock.

[1FinickyOne]

1 hour ago, Dazinoz said:

According to some TVF members they probably can track you by your brainwaves.

You are talking about TVF members here? 

[fdsa]

56 minutes ago, ukrules said:

Putting it into airplane mode disables this but then your phone is disconnected from everything, essentially it becomes a clock.

No, this is wrong. Putting the phone into an airplane mode tells phone modem to stop transmitting data, but if it will do so is on modem's discretion. Nothing stops the modem from listening on the radio spectre and recording all the nearby base stations without transmitting anything.

If you want to actually disconnect your phone from the network you have to physically disconnect the modem from the battery.

[ukrules]

40 minutes ago, fdsa said:

Nothing stops the modem from listening on the radio spectre and recording all the nearby base stations without transmitting anything.

 

So what? If it does nothing with the data then it might as well not exist.

 

Having said that I received a notification of mobile bandwidth usage twice today with my network disabled and they're charging me for it even though I'm at home and have many also disabled wifi netowrks in range.

 

I believe some phones will store up data and send it in the next time you do connect so there's always that.