Google services on mobile devices are tracking and storing user location data even if your privacy settings forbid it, according to an investigative report published by the Associated Press.

The report, confirmed by computer science researchers at Princeton, found a privacy issue with Google's Location History setting affecting two billion Android devices and hundreds of millions of iOS devices where consumers rely on Google Maps or search apps. The AP investigation found that even if users have "paused" the Location History feature on mobile devices, Google apps and services will continue to save your location data.

Apps such as Google Maps ask for permission when using location information for tasks including navigation. Google told AP that it uses Location History, Web and App Activity, and device-level location services to "improve people's location experience" and said it provides descriptions and controls to turn them off. However, the report found that even when users pause Location History on mobile devices, Google continued to store minute-by-minute location data.

According to the report, this extends not only to Google Maps but to services such as automatic daily weather updates on Android, and Google searches that record geolocation data. The AP created a visual map showing tracked location data from its investigation. The report posits that much of this location-based tracking data may be useful to Google to drive advertising revenue.

A Google spokesperson provided PCMag with the following statement on the AP report:

"Location History is a Google product that is entirely opt in, and users have the controls to edit, delete, or turn it off at any time. As the story notes, we make sure Location History users know that when they disable the product, we continue to use location to improve the Google experience when they do things like perform a Google search or use Google for driving directions."

Google's support page has instructions on how to manage or delete your location history.