this post was submitted on 29 Sep 2026
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We just bought a new car this year (Kia) and I completely confused the sales lady when I told her we were not going to use the "connect app" or activate connect on the car itself. She was like "lets get you setup in connect" and I was "no thanks"
We have a nice 🚫 symbol with a radio tree behind it, so I 100% know the car is still connected to the cell network but it is not registered/connected to us, and no app installed.
Sure, we lose some functionality (remote start, and access to in-car wifi) but all of that is paid subscriptions. Sure they first x months are 'free' but after you gotta pony up $ to continue.
Note: I'm under no illusion tracking is just not happening for us now... I just want to make it harder where I can.
My wife just got a newer car last week so I'm asking you because you know more than I.
We never connected a phone to it but the GPS worked right off the bat. Do cars have standalone GPS now? As long as we don't connect a phone, it can't reach the internet, right?
Cars have had standalone GNSS (GPS) for quite a while. GNSS itself doesn’t require internet. Its output is coordinates and elevation - it’s the “gotta have internet to load the map in which I’ll show you the coordinates” that makes people associate GNSS with internet. Offline maps solve this.
Unless it has local maps like mine that are now a decade out of date. It's completely useless now but i refuse to pay several 100 for the update.
If it's a decade out of date, it may be old enough that the maps live on a DVD or SD card, in which case you might be able to get updated maps for free. Yarr!
Ya a lot will have gps built in but as others have said, the map will be static (whatever version was put in when built). Unless you have it updated by connecting it or buying an updated USB or whatever is required for your car
So ya it's likely yours has both a gps antenna and navigation built in.
It must have a sim card somewhere right? How else is it phoning home?
eSIM. Gotta gut the modem and hopefully not break anything
Maybe start with removing the fuse for the modem to make sure nothing essential breaks?
Worth a shot. The question is whether the modem has its own fuse and isn’t integrated into the head unit
It is of course different for different brands, models and model year but my car seems to have a fuse for the Internet connection.
I'm getting tempted to pull it and see what happens more than the fault code.
I’d do it
Oh ya for sure it has a sim.
If it were my daily driver I'd dig in, find the antenna and shunt it to ground so it could not communicate
My wife is already not fully onboard with my need for privacy from these companies so I won regarding not activating the car but not sure she'd let me start pulling panels to find and kill the antenna.