The only way is to not use any Google services. If you connect from mobile IP ranges as other users who are in the area, you could also easily be included. Same goes for cell towers but at least it's not a single entity.

Google collects location data from WLAN networks in reach, triangulates from cell tower signal strength, GPS, GLONASS, geoip and if all that fails, sheer historical prediction.

And no one quite knows why, other than "because we can". There is Google Maps, but when I'm not using it, when exactly is this orwellian infrastructure to my benefit and not exclusively Googles?

“personalized search”

While a true statement, it’s unfortunate how broad of a license it ultimately provides.

It's extremely cumbersome and confusing to turn off. At first, it was opt-in. Once would ignore the notifications to turn things on, and eventually things became opt-out. But it's not 100% clear what one is opting out of - the only thing that seems you can really opt out of are ad-related tracking (by 'request' it seems - the ad tech companies get to use the honor system), and personalized recommendations. Well, just because you turn off recommendations doesn't mean they're not already collecting your personalized data - even if you don't use it.

Did I make mistakes in the above paragraph? Probably. But you know what, that's Google's fault, because it sure isn't clear what they aren't and are doing, who can and can't use it, and what I can can't opt out of.

That's the really frustrating part, here. It's purposely obfuscated and changing - similar to Facebook's privacy settings - to keep you on your toes even if you are in the tiny percentage of the population that actually cares. Most won't until something panicky / headliney happens to make them care. I'm kind of glad the EU is making life tough for American tech companies with regards to privacy (even though I work for American tech companies).

2-way personalized search. You search Google and Google searches you.

And the funny thing is that many of us don't even want personalized search.

If you turn off continuous background location tracking in Android, Google maps will bug you every time you use it. Even though foreground location is on and set to use all available signals.

For reference, there was an article here on what it takes to track a million cell phones in real time. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=14803443

An it still gets some of it wrong. A lot of time

That does absolutely nothing. If you don't want to be tracked, don't carry a phone. It's the only way.

> That does absolutely nothing

[Citation Needed]

While your location can absolutely still be tracked (via WiFi, Cell Towers, etc), disabling GPS significantly reduces the accuracy of this tracking, and disabling location history makes it even more difficult to freely track you.

While it's certainly possible Google maintains location history even after you opt out, doing so would likely be illegal, would possibly invalidate any data obtained from a warrant, and would unquestionably be a PR fiasco for Google when it got out.

As far as I'm aware, there's no evidence that GPS continues to function after turning off the software kill switch.

Airplane mode?

If what you're suggesting is that airplane mode prevents you from being tracked, it's not necessarily true; airplane mode leaves certain radios online: http://wonderfulengineering.com/google-tracking-movements-ev...

You can carry a phone inside a Faraday cage, or a phone without those radios. I think this remains consistent with my comment.

Now you're just carrying a brick. What's the point?

I have many apps I can use offline, plus if I need to use my phone it doesn't take long to turn it off airplane mode and have everything reconnect. It's amazing how fast all the notifications come in once you turn off Airplane mode. I don't do that daily, but when I am conscious about battery usage I do. Maybe I just might try doing it more often. I also do it when charging my phone.

Well, let's think about what I use my phone for...

1. WeChat. This is made completely useless without internet connectivity.

2. Kindle. This is totally unaffected by internet connectivity.

3. Pleco (a Chinese-English dictionary). The only internet-using feature here is the addon store. Again, totally unaffected.

4. Reading my email. Impossible without the internet connection.

5. OsmAnd. Requires the GPS, but doesn't need or use the internet connection.

6. The camera. Again, no need or use for the internet connection.

What's the point, indeed?

Don't act all snarky when someone says the only way not to be tracked is to not carry a phone. It's pretty close to being true, and you don't know if hitting the software switch to turn off your GPS really turns it off or if it goes into a low power mode where it only updates your position every five minutes- this is not unheard of to keep the time to fix low for when a person turns location services back on.

As mentioned in the article, Google was previously caught tracking people even when they had location, data, and Wi-Fi turned off. We just have to take their word now that they don't do it anymore, and the word of a big profit driven corporation that has been implicated in PRISM and previously tracked people isn't worth too much.

Furthermore, even if Google doesn't track you the cell phone companies still know which tower your cell phone was connected to, so they know your location within three miles at all times. It's not as precise as GPS info, but the police could still ask the cell phone companies to give them a list of phone accounts that were visible to a specific set of cell phone towers at a particular set of times.

It does something that's completely useless since you're already being tracked by other means. By the mechanisms of physics, you can't have untrackable wireless communications. It's not how radiation works.

Or alternatively use a self hosted or less well known alternative.