You may have heard in the news this week that using GPS on your phone means that people like the CIA and Rebekah Brooks can find out more about your life than you might want them to. Apparently Angry Birds and Google maps are particularly ‘leaky apps’.

But having your GPS or ‘location services’ switched on can sometimes be a real godsend.

If you’ve got an iPhone or iPad you can use your GPS to find your device if you lose it. The ‘Find my iPhone’ app allows you to pinpoint its location on a map, lock down all it’s functions and even send it a message to say ‘Call me on this number’. You simply sign in to the app using your Apple ID, switch on ‘location services’ for the app in your Settings, and your device is then traceable.

Google recently developed a similar app for Android – Android Device Manager. This does all the same things as ‘Find my iPhone’, and this week the much-needed password protection was introduced, making a big improvement to its security.

If you’re worried that the GPS function is using up too much of your battery life, only have it switched on for the apps that really need it, like maps and camera. For the rest of your apps, you can activate location services as and when you need to.