I created a google takeout and in that zip file I found some files containing a ton of data about me. It has logged every single page I visited while using the google search engine and chrome browser. It even logged every single time I opened an app on my old android phone. It even has VOICE RECORDINGS of me and a log of every time I used google assistant. This is just some of the data and I’m very sure there is even more data they have.

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51 points

don’t forget if you have location enabled in your phone it tracks every single place you’ve been to

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27 points

It does that even if you turn it off. The setting just controls location access by third party apps.

Lineage os and F-droid is the better solution. It has the advantage of being bloat free as well

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11 points

You can also use GPS location without any google services running, it just takes a bit longer to find your position when you first connect. OsmAnd or Organic maps from f-droid, which are actually superior apps to google maps in a lot of ways, particularly OsmAnd.

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1 point

Yeah Google Maps isn’t actually a map app. Its for navigation.

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4 points

I had to use Satstat to reset the AGPS data as Lineage os just won’t refresh agps on its own.

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5 points

These apps cannot find addresses in the US. Just a heads up so anyone that sees this doesn’t pull their hair out trying to figure it out. No, it isn’t you, it’s the app.

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16 points

And it can be very wrong about those locations, too. For better or worse, idk. My old phone showed me going to completely different cities on the other side of my state when I went to the corner store.

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