Facebook has updated location controls on Android to allow users to block location information and tracking.
A new background location control on Facebook for Android means users choose if Facebook can reveal location information when they’re not using the app.
“Until today, people using these features were asked to enable Location History. If you enabled this setting, two things happened: you would share your location when you weren’t using the app and you would allow Facebook to store a history of your precise locations,” says Paul McDonald, Engineering Director, Location Infrastructure of Facebook.
“With this update, you’ll have a dedicated way to choose whether or not to share your location when you aren’t using the app.“
How it works
For people who previously chose to turn their Location History setting “on,” the new background location setting is “on.”
For people who had turned Location History “off” – or never turned it on in the first place – the new background location setting is “off.”
“We’re alerting everyone using the Facebook app on an Android device who chose to turn on Location History in the past, letting them know about the new control, and asking them to take a moment to check that their settings are right for them. If you’ve never turned on Location History, you don’t have to do anything. We won’t turn either of these settings on unless you specifically tell us to,” McDonald said.