Technology has its perks, but it equally has its disadvantages. Over time, one of the most recent problems people have had with it is that of security. With smartphones getting smarter and Artificial Intelligence using data to make everything easier, we are constantly putting out vital and important information unknowingly. As a result of this, people are starting to feel less safe giving so much away.

Snapchat was a huge wake-up call for millennials when the location update came, and people realised that anyone could pull up at their house using the information from the app. We all panicked but, after learning to turn off the permission setting, we felt safe again.

Unfortunately, that feeling of safety was short-lived with the discovery that your iPhone keeps track of all the places you’ve been, when you went there and how often you’ve been there. You are most likely unintentionally leaving a trail of everywhere you have been on your phone.

You might have noticed that when you take photos, your location automatically appears on the picture. Sometimes, your phone even makes a collage of the memories you have made in that location with your photos. This is your phone’s way of keeping a record of your location.

According to Apple, the producers of the iPhone, the information is used to provide personalised services, like building a better archive of your photo memories and predictive traffic routing on the maps.

They believe that storing this information about where you live, work and visit often will help them provide hands-on information that will make your life easier. Apple has also promised that this data will never be shared without your consent.

But what happens if your phone gets lost or stolen? According to the try giant, no one can have access to this information without your face ID or fingerprint.

If you use an iPhone and you want to check all the stored location data your phone has saved, delete all those records or deactivate the service all together, you can follow these steps:

• Go to Settings on your iPhone.
• Tap on the privacy setting.
• Click on the location services.
• Scroll down to the bottom of the page.
• Click on system services.
• Go to Significant locations tab.
• Log on with your fingerprint, password of face ID.

Once you have done these, you will see a list of all the places you have been since you started using the phone. You can also click on each location and see where exactly you have visited on a map.

Your iPhone may even go as far as highlighting your home and work using your most visited destination as a cue. It also knows when you visited these places and how many times you did. This sensitive information your phone stores could be dangerous if it ever made it into the wrong hands.

After following these steps, you can click on the “clear history” button to wipe all location collected so far. Similarly, you can turn off “Significant Locations” at the top of the menu to stop your phone from collecting your location data altogether.

For Android users wondering if they are affected, this feature is one they do not need to worry about.