TECH TIP: HOW TO BLOCK YOUR PHONE FROM TRACKING YOUR LOCATION

Smartphones are useful tools for everyday life, but they're privy to nearly everything about you, including all the places you've been ― if you let them.

When you use a map app to find the new restaurant your friend recommended, or your phone's browser to check the price of something you saw while window shopping, you could be unwittingly allowing your phone to track your location and share that information with others.

Phones use various signals to find your location, including cell tower pings, Wi-Fi access points, Bluetooth and GPS.

Sometimes your phone needs to know your location to provide a useful service, like telling the Uber driver where to pick you up. But in other cases, there's little justification for tracking your whereabouts, which then can be exploited by apps, ad services or even hackers.

"From fitness tracking to navigation, every location ping potentially reveals details about our routines and movements - which could be risky in the wrong hands," said Darren Guccione, CEO of Keeper Security. "Users should turn on location tracking only when necessary, such as during navigation, emergencies or sharing updates with trusted contacts, and disable it immediately afterward."

Experts warn location data could be used to track people who visit abortion clinics. Or "a disgruntled ex could use location sharing to stalk someone, or a current, abusive partner could force you into location sharing as a means of control," said David Ruiz, senior privacy advocate at cybersecurity company Malwarebytes.

Here are some tips to make sure location tracking is kept to a minimum: APP PERMISSIONS Head to your phone's control panel to check permissions.

iPhone users can go to the Privacy & Security tab, and then to Location Services to check settings for individual apps. It's not a good idea to let apps always use your location in the background, according to cybersecurity experts. Instead, get the app to either ask first before using your location, use it only while you've got the app open, or even never let it use your location.