Big Brother or what?

I've thought about this a bit more. While GPS allows internet giants like Google and Apple to track the whereabouts of your phone, a different mechanism is being used for the technology in a store to be able to identify a customer's mobile phone and send a message to it. So, don't just turn off your GPS/location services but turn off your WiFi as well.

In fact, I've always maintained it is good practice to use your smartphone with GPS, WiFi, Bluetooth and mobile data turned off. I only turn these on when I need them. Not only does this make you very difficult to track, but it helps to preserve your battery life too. (Your mobile phone provider can still send phone calls and SMS messages to you.)

I'm sorry so many struggle with technology, it has its uses for good and bad. My advice to my customers is always to just concentrate on trying to carry out a single task at a time. Start by working out how to add a contact and to make and answer a call. The move on to the next topic that you think you will need. Most mobile phone shops will talk you through a task and YouTube can show you how to make changes.

Thank you @sweetcakes ! x

I feel for you Kim19, I really do. I only buy new items when it becomes necessary. There are 22 'things' on my mobile but I only use 8 of them - the rest are superfluous to requirements as far as I'm concerned.

I always purchase Google Android phones and yesterday Google, and that phone saved me from the chaos that erupted on rail services into Paddington London.

I had booked a ticket on the 06:30am service from North Somerset. Google having that knowledge, informed me personally at 6:00am on my phone of the problems and therefore saved me from even making the journey to the station.

This morning I have been to Bristol to visit a customer, and I always use Google navigation on my phone as that is far better than the inbuilt sat nav in the car.

As I left the customers premises to return to the office, Google informed me of severe delays on the route I would have taken and diverted me away from the traffic jams that were affecting the whole area.

Therefore in two days Google with its location information and purchase knowledge have saved me many hours that would have been wasted in useless travel time.

Not everybody would appreciate being tracked as above, but it does have its very real advantages if you switch on location awareness and allow that to combine with search/purchase knowledge.

Great stuff I feel, as through that I have even managed to get a break in the day to post this.

When I mislaid my iPhone my iPad told me where it was.

Daddima
If it was an email, yes, if a text, no.
I'm assuming you ported your number to your new phone IF you changed provider.
That means the SIM card can only receive texts in the phone with the SIM in it but emails can go to your email address via WiFi on any mobile with or without a SIM.
On the other hand, if you have a new number, only emails would go to either/both phones, not texts only to the one with SIM in.
I take it that your old one is a PAYG as you say you have credit on it. That said, emails would be on both, texts only on the one registered.

It is easy enough to turn off location detection, so I use a smartphone, but with the camera covered up. You can get little stick on devices that slide over the lens. I don't fancy giving hackers or MI5/6 the easy opportunity to watch me. Seems extreme, I worried when my son said he had done this a few years ago that he was getting paranoic, but www.rt.com/uk/319277-gchq-hack-smartphone-law/ gives you an idea of what is now possible. I do not want a 'smart' home, with all my appliances connected to IoT (Internet of Things) and hence able to be hacked into and switched off at a hacker or foreign government's whim. I don't want a burglar to be able to see when I am in and what I am doing.

For our grandchildren privacy will seem a strange concept, but I will try to keep mine as long as possible!

apologies, paranoid, not paranoic, fat fingers!

I don't mind that Google knows where I am/where I've been, as I am a widow it would allow tracking of my movements should something happen to me. I do switch off wi-fi when I'm going shopping.

Big Brother is here to stay. I will not have Alexa or any of the others in my house & I certainly don't need a gadget to turn on my heating, kettle, whatever

If in doubt that 'big brother' aka, google, Facebook etc are/aren't listing to your conversations, go on to YouTube and search Is your smart phone listening into your conversations
There is concrete proof there. Not that I needed it as I and my family have 'tested' the theory ourselves.

Legs55 There are two wifi devises we find wonderful to have. The first would be the central heating linked to an app on our phones. As we are both still working (in the same offices), we can never be sure what time we will be home either together or separately. The app on our phones allows us to turn on the heating remotely as we leave work, so the house is warm when we arrive home.

We have also fitted out the house with wifi lighting which can also be operated from a phone app, Alexa or Google Home speakers. Individual lights can be operated remotely individually or as room groups. However, the best of that would be that you can get into bed last thing at night and say to the Alexa speaker "all lights off", and all the lights go out all over the house, inside and out

No more going around what is quite a large house switching everything off when you are dead tired and just want to hit the sack.

Great stuff.

Lynnebo
Agree its horrible to be locked in a car especially as you had a toddler with you.

Years ago (before I had a mobile phone) I was locked by mistake in my cousins car.
It was a very hot day in New Jersey.
She was only gone about 20 mins but I was quite close to passing out.
A very unpleasant experience.?

Apparently to escape from a locked car remove headrest and use the metal leg fittings to break car window.

Thanks LBC. Trouble is I can't even master the few I need but I get you. I have something similar with my washing machine.......

I turned it off JenniferEccles (is this the future?)
Jalima; Naughty girl! Have you jumped the gun and been at the Shiraz already? You posted mid-afternoon. Perhaps you'd had another hard day's shopping! I can't work out what point you're trying to make; not cupcakes?
Our No.2 supermarket chain is advertising DIY cup cake mixture; looks easy, so I might give it a go. Wish me luck.

This is not something you should be scared of i think.
Its not like somebody is watching you like some creepy old man.
The thing that is happening is your phones automatic navigation is watching where you are, obviously you can turn that off. But if you don't then you're just going to keep getting notifications like that. Also you can just turn off those notifications.