GPS

Apple Now Collecting Traffic Data, Future Maps Makeover?

Cody Lee ∙ Updated May 26, 2017

Ok ok, we get it. The secret location file that came to light last week is a glitch, and is being fixed. This article isn't about the potential dangers that are involved with this location information, but the possibilities it brings for future iOS features.

Apple posted a Q&A article this morning to set the record straight about the controversial tracking file. One of the questions was, "What other location data is Apple collecting on the iPhone besides crowd-sourced Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower data?"

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iOS 4.3.3 Coming in the Next Few Weeks?

Alex Heath ∙ April 27, 2011

It appears that iOS 4.3.3 could be dropping in the next few weeks. In Apple's recent response to the iPhone's location-tracking database, the company mentions that an update to iOS is coming, "sometime in the next few weeks."

Due to a bug in the iPhone's location database, Apple plans pushing an incremental update to iOS very soon. There's no word on an official release date, but we should be seeing iOS 4.3.3 before the end of next month.

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Apple Responds to Location Tracking Controversy: “We Don’t Track Your iPhone”

Alex Heath ∙ Updated May 26, 2017

Apple has decided to officially respond to the iPhone's location database issue that has been undergoing intense scrutiny by the media and industry experts. In a Q&A response, Apple has addressed why the iPhone logs your location, and what Apple does with that information.

An alleged email from Steve Jobs answered this issue already with a simple response: "We don't track anyone." That's the message that Apple is confirming with this Q&A response...

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Steve Jobs and Android Co-Founder Thoughts on Location-Tracking

Guest Author ∙ April 27, 2011

Continuing with the whole iOS location-tracking fiasco, the folks over at All Things D have posted a video from last year of Apple CEO Steve Jobs and Google Android co-founder and former CEO, Andy Rubin, discussing their thoughts regarding privacy and location tracking on smartphones.

The video footage includes snippets from last years D8 conference and December 2010's Dive Into Mobile conference. Both Jobs and Rubin assured smartphone owners that privacy was valued on both platforms...

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First Lawsuit Filed For iPhone Location-Tracking Debacle

Guest Author ∙ Updated January 24, 2016

I had a feeling this was coming. The very first lawsuit has been filed against Apple for the highly controversial tracking of location data from the iPhone and iPad.

According to Bloomberg, a lawsuit was filed against Apple on April 22nd in Tampa, Florida, at a federal court by iPhone user, Vikram Ajjampur, and iPad user, William Devito. The two iDevice users claim that Apple has been surreptitiously tracking the location of iPhone and iPad owners.

They claim to have filed the lawsuit in an effort to stop the alleged data collection by Apple. 

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Location Services Isn’t the Only Way that Apple Tracks Your iPhone

Alex Heath ∙ April 25, 2011

If you've been keeping up with the latest iPhone news, you've most likely heard about the infamous location database. At first, everyone thought that Apple was stalking your every move through a saved database of your GPS coordinates, but then some experts weighed in and said that simply wasn't the case.

The iPhone's GPS is operated through a system called Location Services. There was reason to believe that turning off Location Services would disable Apple's location database form storing your information, but that turns out to not be true.

Apple is going to collect your location data whether you like it or not, and your location gets sent to Apple at least twice a day...

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Auto Location Will Automatically Turn the iPhone’s Location Services On and Off

Alex Heath ∙ April 25, 2011

Are you still a little paranoid about the iPhone location-tracking file? Are you afraid that Apple or your carrier is tracking your every move?

Lucky for you, there's a new jailbreak tweak called Auto Location that automatically toggles your iPhone's Location Services on and off. When you're not using an app that requires GPS, Auto Location will turn the iPhone's Location Services off. When you open an app that requires Location Services, Auto Location turns it back on...

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Steve Jobs: Apple Doesn’t Track iPhone Users

Alex Heath ∙ April 25, 2011

The media has been firing on all cylinders about the public uncovering of the iPhone's shady location database file. Speculation has been that Apple and/or network carriers are intentionally tracking the coordinates of iPhone users through the device's Location Services.

Experts on the issue have deemed the location database non-threatening, legal, and most likely a simple mistake on Apple's end. If you want anymore clarification, Steve Jobs himself has shed some light on this issue, calling it "false."

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Closer Look at iPhone’s Location-Tracking Database

Alex Heath ∙ Updated November 13, 2019

A couple days ago, we told you about a discovery made by two researchers concerning location data collection on the iPhone. Apparently, the iPhone logs your GPS coordinates for an unspecified amount of time and saves that data to a system-level consolidated.db file that is then synced over to iTunes upon backup.

This finding was demonstrated at the Where 2.0 conference by British programmers Pete Warden and Alasdair Allen. They claimed the discovery as their own, when in fact it has actually been a known issue in the security community since last year.

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Mysterious iOS Location Tracking File Likely Just a Glitch

Cody Lee ∙ April 21, 2011

We reported yesterday on the iPhone location tracking bug that has been buzzing around the internet for the last 48 hours. It's been making headlines from tech sites to blogs of privacy advocate groups, like Epic (Electronic Privacy Information Center).

For those that haven't heard: A hidden file in iOS versions 4.0 and above has been found that actually records the user's location fairly frequently. I'm not talking about Facebook requesting your location, I mean it records your GPS coordinates with a time stamp to a secret file. Was this in the EULA (End-User License Agreement)?

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Untrackerd Stops Your iPhone From Secretly Tracking Your Location

Alex Heath ∙ April 21, 2011

Ryan Petrich has released a new jailbreak utility in Cydia called untrackerd. This utility blocks iOS from saving the secretly logged location data that the iPhone stores in a system file.

In case you didn't know, some researchers recently discovered that the iPhone records and saves your location coordinates without your permission. The location data is then stored to a system-level file that is then copied over to iTunes on sync.

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