San Francisco sources have stated that Android smart phones have reportedly been gathering users' location data and sending it to Google even when the location services were turned off and there was no SIM card in the device. Quartz reported "Even if you take all of those precautions, phones running Android software gather data about your location and send it back to Google when they're connected to the internet".
Meanwhile the tech giant has reportedly confirmed the practice of gathering location data. A Google spokesperson said "In January this year, we began looking into using Cell ID codes as an additional signal to further improve the speed and performance of message delivery".
Currently Android phones have been collecting the addresses of nearby
mobile towers even when location services are disabled are and sending that
data back to Google. This makes search engine giant and the unit of Alphabet
behind Android to have access to huge amount of data that invades their
privacy. Users cannot opt out of this even when their devices are factory
reset.
