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[-] emergencyfood@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 week ago

Android phone collects every WiFi network it has ever seen and sends it to Google

Possibly, but how often do you use WiFi on a phone?

[-] AppleMango@lemmy.world 14 points 1 week ago

Possibly, but how often do you use WiFi on a phone?

Basically whenever I'm at home or a relative's house?

[-] emergencyfood@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 week ago

But why? Mobile networks are very fast nowadays. And how many homes still have routers?

[-] BottleBoardBakon@lemmy.ml 4 points 1 week ago
[-] emergencyfood@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 week ago

I would have used WiFi on my phone perhaps two or three times in the last year. My home does have a router, because we're dinos, but most new houses don't since everyone has a smartphone anyway.

[-] AppleMango@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago* (last edited 6 days ago)

fast ≠ widespread or consistent. mobile data tends to have excruciatingly low upload speeds (at least in my region)

[-] emergencyfood@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 week ago

Ah, then it makes sense.

[-] TeddE@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago

Please note: I didn't say you had to connect to these networks. This happens as a background process unless you do a ritual to shut off location services and actively work to keep it off. Most people do not know/care to do this. And even if it's off in settings, some apps have the permission to temporarily override this (and will ask you once to grant it such permission and then have that permission for the lifetime of the app). And regardless of which app overrides said setting, Google gets a copy of whatever the background scan finds (for all Android phones that have the Play store installed, which is most of them).

[-] emergencyfood@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 week ago

Am I the only person who switches off the WiFi after use? I thought that was common advice to save battery.

[-] TeddE@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

I use WiFi at home and friends. I use cellular for work and travel (usually between home and friends). I'm glad you have a simple enough arrangement that it's worthwhile to manage it by hand.

Further, in recent versions of Android, factory settings are set to automatically turn WiFi back on if turned off - plus there's several methods to indirectly turn WiFi back on (https://thedroidguy.com/stop-android-turning-wifi-on-automatically-1261625). This is that dark patterns thing. Getting people to do what you want by being frictionless with your preferred options and 'polite' but obstinate about options you wish to steer people away from.

[-] emergencyfood@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 week ago

I use WiFi at home and friends.

This is the part I don't understand. Mobile data would work in your houses too, right?

Further, in recent versions of Android, factory settings are set to automatically turn WiFi back on if turned off

I haven't seen this happen, but I use MIUI (Xiaomi's Android ROM) which tends to be aggressive in limiting battery use. It will actually cut hotspot if unused for a few minutes.

[-] TeddE@lemmy.world 2 points 1 week ago

This is the part I don't understand. Mobile data would work in your houses too, right?

Actually, first - ironically mobile coverage is terrible right at my new home since I moved. Great about 200 yards from home and most everywhere I go, but there's a weird blind spot at my address specifically.

Second, Most mobile data plans are 30-80 Mbps†, most home WiFi plans are 300 Mbps-1Gbps†. WiFi isn't just faster, it's a lot faster. † your milage may vary, these are based on my experience

Finally, again this is another case of maybe I'm weird, but my friends and I are into retro gaming, and self-hosting and both of those have LAN-specific options that only work within the WiFi and home network.

this post was submitted on 13 Jul 2026
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