Your iPhone Stalks You — And How To Stop It!

Last week, I lost my iPhone. Thankfully, I found it a couple hours later in the safety of my own home, but I know that is not the norm. I’m not sure how many times I’ve heard of people misplacing their phones, only to have to shut off their service, change their number, buy a new device, etc.

It seems like a real pain in the ass!

All of those painful after-effects aside, there is something that’s just a little bit worse you need to know about. Let’s face it– technology has come a long way and we use our devices for just about everything. Whether we are checking in on Facebook or geo-tagging on Instagram, our phone always knows where we are and I guess that’s a good thing, until it’s not…

Hear me out.

I recently realized that there is an entire cache that is stored on our iPhone’s of all of our recent locations. Yes, this means your place of work, your favorite stores and…you guessed it..your home. In the wrong hands, this can be incredibly dangerous. 

Step 1: 

Go to Settings > Privacy.

The very first option that will come up is Location Services. Click it.

Step 2: 

You’ll then be directed to an entire list of apps that use your location. Facebook, Instagram, Google Maps, etc. Most of these apps are pretty harmless, but scroll the entire way down to System Services. Click it.

Step 3:

Scroll down mid-way until you come across a button that is titled Frequent Locations. Click it.

Step 4:

More than likely, this feature has been turned on and you should see an entire list of many of the places you frequent. I’d be willing to bet that one of the locations on that list is your home. Whether it is titled “Home” or not is pretty irrelevant in my mind. There are sick and twisted people out there and I personally don’t want any of my information public knowledge.

Step 5:

You can very easily turn this feature off by clicking on the slide bar at the top of the screen. Exit out of Settings like you normally would and you are good to go!

This is a feature I didn’t even know iPhone had, but I’m so glad I was able to figure it out and turn it off! 

What iPhone tips or tricks do you have?