Keeping This Phone Setting On Puts You At An Increased Risk, So Make Sure To Switch It Off Immediately

But we were also surprised to learn that making one small adjustment on our smartphones could keep us safer physically too.

“By default, a lot of people leave their location tracking on or choose to always — not just when you’re using the app — but always choose to allow your location to be collected,” Hutnik told us. “And if you think about our patterns — we come back to the same place at night most nights — to our home. We go to the same places for work. We have the familiar patterns. Your location is really personal.”

Just think about how many apps have access to your location, and then ask yourself how many of them really need that information.

“You have the choice to not share your location all the time or really be intentional about when you are sharing location,” Hutnik said. “You might need it because you want to find out how far the airport is from your hotel — totally fine — but if you don’t need to share your location, don’t.”

So, if you’re craving a croissant and you’re in a city you’ve never visited before, it makes sense to give an app access to your location so it can guide you to the nearest bakery, but otherwise, it’s a good idea to turn off or say no to location sharing.

Hutnik also noted that it’s a good idea not to share photos of yourself or others in real time with the location tagged — or even untagged. For instance, sharing a photo of yourself while you’re on vacation can alert others that you’re not at home, and this can act as an invitation for a robbery. Or, if you’re traveling, especially if you’re doing solo travel, and you’re posting about the location you’re visiting, others could easily find you at or near that spot.