Published

07 May 2026

How to Disable App Tracking on Android?

It sounds frightening that your mobile apps are tracking you. These apps have access to your location, microphone, browsing habits and purchase behaviour. And literally, it happens while your phone sits on your nightstand.

You may have noticed that apps ask for location access, like a game app that wants your contacts, or a weather app running in the background. Most of us tap the allow button and forget about it. Generally, it is said that these apps sell your data to brokers.

To prevent your data from being accessed by these apps, it is essential to disable app tracking on Android devices. In this guide, I will go through why tracking is worse and the steps to avoid it.

Why Tracking Is Worse?

When you download something for free and grant permissions, your personal data is collected. Then it is sold to data brokers, who sell it again to someone else. By the time you notice that the ads are showing on your phone, they are based on your behavior and requirements.

Only the location can tell more about you, such as where you sleep. Where do you work? Whether you visit a church, a clinic or a particular shop. What time do you leave home in the morning? Retailers, insurers, political campaigns.

Tracking also drains data. Background apps pinging location servers, sending analytics, firing advertising SDKs, all consume your mobile data. If you've ever burned through your physical SIM card data faster than usual, tracking can be the reason. If you are using an eSIM for travel, you can better manage your data by understanding what is data roaming and how background apps affect it.

Step 1: Delete the Advertising ID

Your Android device has a unique identifier called the Advertising ID. And that is actually the key that connects your behaviour across different apps. The ad network in a game you downloaded talks to the ad network inside a shopping app and sees the same ID. That's why a pair of shoes you looked at on an app follows you into every other app.

To fix it, here is how you can delete the advertising ID.

Open the Settings app.
Click the Privacy button and then Ads.
If you have Android 12 or later, you'll see "Delete Advertising ID". Tap it and confirm.
The older Androids only have "Opt out of Ads Personalisation." Turn that on. Not as clean as deleting, but it's what's available.

For the Samsung device specifically:

Open the Settings app and click on Privacy.
Tap Ads and reset Advertising ID.

Step 2: Permission Manager

When you grant permission to apps, you give them access to your location, microphone, camera and contacts. Many apps request it even though they have no functional need for it. They actually want your data.

Here is how you can manage the permission.

Open Settings and tap Privacy.
Now, click Permission Manager, and here you can see the full picture of which apps on your device have access to.

Location

You generally have seen the three options:

Allowed all the time
Only while using
Denied

"Allowed all the time" is the problem category. It allows apps to track your location. You need to move them to "Only while using" or deny them entirely. You can grant "allowed all the time" for the navigation apps or fitness trackers.

Microphone

Some apps require microphone access with no reasonable explanation for needing it. These include a retail app or utility tool. They definitely can survive without microphone access.

Camera

Why do the apps that don't have a camera feature ask for camera access? Avoid it in apps that have no photographic function.

Contacts and Call Logs

Apps that access your contacts aren't just reading names. They're mapping your social network. That's a specific and valuable data set for profiling.

Step 3: Disable Location Tracking

Two options are available for location tracking.

Turn it off completely:

Open the Settings app on your Android device.
Scroll to Location and toggle it off.
Every app loses location access.

You can turn it on when using maps or any location-dependent app. It is the perfect way to stop apps from tracking your movements.

Per-app control:

Go to Settings and scroll to Location.
Under app permissions, you can manage each app's location access.

Recommendation: A per-app approach is ideal. It takes ten minutes once, and then you're done.

Step 4: Switch Off Google's Activity Tracking

Google also tracks your location and other details. Android devices are integrated with Google's own tracking systems like web activity, app usage history, location timeline and search behaviour.

Open Settings and tap Google.
Scroll to Manage your Google Account.
Go to the Data & Privacy tab, where you'll find Web & App Activity, Location History, and YouTube History.
These are all switched on by default.
Turn off what you're not comfortable with. You can also delete historical data here.

Following the given steps doesn't mean you're invisible to Google. It only disables app tracking at the behavioural logging level.

Step 5: Use the Privacy Dashboard

Most people don't know it exists, and it can help to maintain privacy. To disable the app tracking on an Android, it is the most important step to consider.

Open the Settings app.
Scroll to Privacy and then to Privacy Dashboard.

Following the settings gives you a 24-hour timeline, which shows which apps accessed your location, microphone, camera and other details.

Open it and look at what's there. Here you will observe the things that may surprise you, such as a game accessing your microphone in the middle of the night. The dashboard shows you the real activity on your mobile device.

Step 6: Cut Background Data for Apps

This one matters for privacy and data usage.

Background data is how apps send tracking signals, analytics, and advertising information even when you are not using them. Your screen is off, but still, apps are quietly making network requests in the background. To understand exactly how much data these background processes consume, check our guide on apps that use the most mobile data.

Here is how you can cut the background data for apps.

Open the Settings app.
Move to Network & Internet (or Connections on Samsung).
Scroll to Data Usage and tap each app and turn off Background Data.

It's ideal for social media apps, retail apps, games and utility apps.

Before travelling, especially. If you're running on a limited data plan, background tracking apps are one of the biggest data killers. Yaalo eSIM is the best solution for frequent travelers to stay connected. Yaalo's eSIM plans for your destination or get a global eSIM to stay connected while traveling across the world.

iOS and Android Are Not the Same

iOS and Android have different tracking transparency.

Apple introduced App Tracking Transparency in iOS 14.5. Every app that wants to track you across other apps must ask permission first. You may have noticed a prompt appear on your screen requesting to track your activity.

Android doesn't have such a system. The Advertising ID in Android phones is active by default. Apps don't require permission. There's no prompt requesting to track you. You have to find the setting and turn it off yourself, which most people don't even know how to do. If you want to learn more about saving data on Android overall, our guide on how to save data on Android covers it in detail.

Does Turning This Off Actually Break Anything?

No, your apps keep working. The only change you notice is that ads become less targeted and algorithms become less specific. Apps that sometimes need a permission will ask you again when you open them. Grant it in context, when it makes sense.

Conclusion

Disabling app tracking on Android is not as complex as it seems. Just delete the Advertising ID, and it's done. That single step breaks the most invasive tracking on your Android.

After that, check the Permission Manager and confirm which apps have location access. Move anything suspicious. Similarly, you can use the privacy dashboard, cut down background data and switch off Google activity tracking to maintain privacy.

FAQs

Does turning off tracking on Android stop all data collection?

No, selecting your Advertising ID, disabling permissions, and limiting background data removes the commercially significant tracking. Apps can still collect some data through other means, like device fingerprinting.

What actually is the Advertising ID?

The Android Advertising ID is a unique 32-digit alphanumeric string assigned to your device. It allows advertisers to track behavior across apps and websites for personalized ads.