Can you be located without knowing it?
Quick answer
Yes, background apps can locate you if they store your position on a server. Parages cannot: it sends location nowhere and checks proximity only on your device.
Plenty of apps can read your position in the background, and the signs are easy to miss: a sharing toggle left on, a family map you forgot, a battery draining faster than usual. If an app holds your live location on its servers, someone can usually look without telling you. Parages was designed so that cannot happen. It never uploads your position, keeps no history, and runs every near-a-friend check on your own phone, so there is simply nothing for anyone to peek at.
In one sentence
Parages pings you when you pass near a friend. It tracks nobody.