By and large, I’m a big fan of the Android operating system. The mobile OS manages to strike a solid balance between software flexibility and openness, without running into most of the legacy vulnerabilities of yesterday’s unmanaged PC platforms.

Nevertheless, not everything is perfectly rosy when it comes to Android, especially with regard to privacy and data tracking. At the end of the day, the online advertising business is Google’s bread and butter, and the company has a vested interest in collecting analytical data, telemetry, and more in order to fine-tune its algorithms and AI models.

On the bright side, Google does offer fairly robust configuration options for adjusting data collection preferences, both for Google Accounts and within the Android operating system itself. Here are three overarching measures I personally take on my Google Pixel phone to dial-in the settings to my liking.

All conveniently located under a single roof in Settings

To start off, I normally jump right into Google Account settings to tweak preferences to my liking. There are an awful lot of data tracking options that are switched on by default, most of which can be disabled or deleted with the flip of a switch.

To manage Google Account-related privacy and security settings, follow these steps:

1. Launch the Settings application.
2. Navigate to Google services and preferences [Your Name] > All services > Privacy & security.
3. From here, tap or click on the following entries to configure accordingly:
   • Ads: Manage or delete your advertising ID (used to surface personalized advertisements)
   • Location Accuracy: Toggle on or off Improve Location Accuracy, which uses various on-device sensors and wireless signals to estimate a more accurate geolocation
   • Personalize using shared data: allow or disallow the system to provide tailored recommendations within Google apps based on data provided to other apps
   • Usage & diagnostics: toggle on or off the ability for the system to send diagnostic, device, and usage data to Google for purposes of telemetry

Dive deeper into your Google Account preferences

A smorgasbord of privacy options to sift through

The above entries cover the basics, but there are plenty more Google Account preferences that can be adjusted to further ward off trackers, data collection, and the like.

To further adjust the data and privacy settings of your Google Account, follow these steps:

1. Launch Settings.
2. From here, navigate to Google services and preferences [Your Name] > [Your name] > Manage your Google Account > Data & privacy.
3. Next, tap or click on the following entries to configure them to your liking:
   • History settings > Web & App Activity: turn on or off the ability for the system to save location and other activities within your Google Account
   • History settings > Timeline: Turn on or off a GPS-powered log of your location history
   • YouTube History: choose whether to save YouTube watch history
   • Personalized ads > My Ad Center: Control the data used for targeted or personalized advertisements
   • Search personalization: Choose whether Google Search displays relevant results based on account history
   • Play Personalization: Choose whether the Google Play Store can use your data for tailored recommendations
   • Google Fit privacy: Manage the fitness data associated with your Google Account.
   • Voice Match: Allow or disallow Google to recognize your voice across various first-party services

Reign-in on third-party apps

Google isn’t the only company keeping tabs on your data

Of course, your Google Account isn’t the only entity hungry for data. Third-party applications and services can tap into various sensors, information sets, and more to better serve ads or to otherwise tailor the experience in one way or another. Luckily, Pixel devices (and most Android devices more broadly) feature several powerful tools to keep data tracking and privacy in your hands.

To get started with managing third-party app permissions and data access, follow these steps:

1. Launch Settings.
2. Navigate to Security & privacy > Privacy.
3. From here, the following can be adjusted and perused through:
   • Privacy dashboard: a dedicated interface that displays up-to-date metrics on various app permissions
   • Privacy controls > Permission manager: a central hub for toggling on or off various permissions on a per-app basis, including location access
   • Privacy controls > Location access: toggle on or location services, or home in on specific app location permissions