Mustafa Al-Bassam tweets:

Yesterday I almost had a heart attack when I entered McDonald’s and I had a notification on my phone asking me to install their app.

And:

It seems that with the latest versions of Android, Google Maps is on 24/7, waiting to send you notifications, with no way to disable it.

And:

Even if you uninstall Google Maps, Google Play’s background service is tracking your location 24/7.

As proof, that last tweet includes some screen shots with the details.

Is this a bug? Intentional? Is this info saved on your phone? Does your location data ever leave your phone, headed for Google’s servers?

On the flip side, Apple exposes Location Services with a switch in:

Settings > Privacy > Location Services

That switch controls location data for my iOS device and my tethered Apple Watch. According to Apple, if that switch is off, the only time my location is used is when I place an emergency call.

Interestingly, the tweet above was retweeted by Edward Snowden.

[H/T The securely saxicolous Not Jony Ive]