Apple has officially responded to the iPhone and iPad 3G location tracking issue that has raised privacy concerns.
Apple has clarified that it is not tracking the location of the iPhone or iPad 3G as reported by Security researchers last week. Apple has also confirmed that it has never done so and has no plans to ever do so.
Apple has answered all the relevant questions regarding the location tracking issue in a Q&A form. So if you were worried about the issue then check the Q&A below:
1. Why is Apple tracking the location of my iPhone?Apple is not tracking the location of your iPhone. Apple has never done so and has no plans to ever do so.
2. Then why is everyone so concerned about this?
Providing mobile users with fast and accurate location information while preserving their security and privacy has raised some very complex technical issues which are hard to communicate in a soundbite. Users are confused, partly because the creators of this new technology (including Apple) have not provided enough education about these issues to date.
3. Why is my iPhone logging my location?
The iPhone is not logging your location. Rather, it’s maintaining a database of Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers around your current location, some of which may be located more than one hundred miles away from your iPhone, to help your iPhone rapidly and accurately calculate its location when requested. Calculating a phone’s location using just GPS satellite data can take up to several minutes. iPhone can reduce this time to just a few seconds by using Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower data to quickly find GPS satellites, and even triangulate its location using just Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower data when GPS is not available (such as indoors or in basements). These calculations are performed live on the iPhone using a crowd-sourced database of Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower data that is generated by tens of millions of iPhones sending the geo-tagged locations of nearby Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers in an anonymous and encrypted form to Apple.
4. Is this crowd-sourced database stored on the iPhone?
The entire crowd-sourced database is too big to store on an iPhone, so we download an appropriate subset (cache) onto each iPhone. This cache is protected but not encrypted, and is backed up in iTunes whenever you back up your iPhone. The backup is encrypted or not, depending on the user settings in iTunes. The location data that researchers are seeing on the iPhone is not the past or present location of the iPhone, but rather the locations of Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers surrounding the iPhone’s location, which can be more than one hundred miles away from the iPhone. We plan to cease backing up this cache in a software update coming soon (see Software Update section below).
5. Can Apple locate me based on my geo-tagged Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower data?
No. This data is sent to Apple in an anonymous and encrypted form. Apple cannot identify the source of this data.
6. People have identified up to a year’s worth of location data being stored on the iPhone. Why does my iPhone need so much data in order to assist it in finding my location today?
This data is not the iPhone’s location data—it is a subset (cache) of the crowd-sourced Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower database which is downloaded from Apple into the iPhone to assist the iPhone in rapidly and accurately calculating location. The reason the iPhone stores so much data is a bug we uncovered and plan to fix shortly (see Software Update section below). We don’t think the iPhone needs to store more than seven days of this data.
7. When I turn off Location Services, why does my iPhone sometimes continue updating its Wi-Fi and cell tower data from Apple’s crowd-sourced database? It shouldn’t. This is a bug, which we plan to fix shortly (see Software Update section below).
8. What other location data is Apple collecting from the iPhone besides crowd-sourced Wi-Fi hotspot and cell tower data?
Apple is now collecting anonymous traffic data to build a crowd-sourced traffic database with the goal of providing iPhone users an improved traffic service in the next couple of years.
9. Does Apple currently provide any data collected from iPhones to third parties? We provide anonymous crash logs from users that have opted in to third-party developers to help them debug their apps. Our iAds advertising system can use location as a factor in targeting ads. Location is not shared with any third party or ad unless the user explicitly approves giving the current location to the current ad (for example, to request the ad locate the Target store nearest them).
10. Does Apple believe that personal information security and privacy are important?
Yes, we strongly do. For example, iPhone was the first to ask users to give their permission for each and every app that wanted to use location. Apple will continue to be one of the leaders in strengthening personal information security and privacy.
Software Update
Sometime in the next few weeks Apple will release a free iOS software update that:
Hopefully it should also answer questions raised by privacy regulators in South Korea, France, Italy and Germany and the US Senator.
Are you relieved that Apple isn’t tracking the location of your iPhone or iPad or you didn't care?
[via Apple]
I’m starting to sick of Apples shit… but im not sure Android would be any better… may have to start exploring new territory.
you’re absolutely right man.
This people treat us like the sheep, go this way, that way, believe this and that. Bullsh…
All GSM based phones have had some form of tracking in them from inception. who is to say your important enough to track? People who think they are probably should be tracked? 20 years ago some people thought the computers were going to take over our lives and strip us of our freedom. The dreamers and thinkers thought they would improve our way of life. Perhaps with the advent of the smart phone both has come true.
i dont see why everybody panics for this thing. For me its a non issue … its not accurate at all this thing so it cant be used against me … maybe if u switch to nokia 3310 both of u .. you ll feel better…
+ it was a bug it will be fixed soon … im not an apple fun boy i just own an iphone 4 thats all from apple …
Calculating a phone’s location using just GPS satellite data can take up to several minutes.
THIS IS A BOLDFACE LIE. Fuck you apple, I will never buy any your products, ever.
NO – THAT IS NOT A LIE!!!! Calculating a phone’s location using just GPS CAN indeed take up to several minutes. They don’t say it would take several minutes every time. They simply state that it CAN. And THAT is true!!! I had a Windows phone that had exactly that problem, and it was really annoying and unpredictable.
So THINK before you blindly bash Apple for the sake of bashing Apple. Not everything they make is perfect, but they definitely make quality products.
How long it takes to get the GPS coordinates to within a usable accuracy takes 30 seconds TOPS.
How long it takes to process them and show the user a pretty little map of where they are is irrelevant.
I expect this type of stupidity from apple fanboys/shills.
Any smartphone that can obtain a GPS connection in under 30 seconds is using cached data. Most GPS systems take upwards of 60 seconds to perform a cold start. If you use your GPS within a week of a cold start it can obtain positioning data quickly because the satellites are roughly where they were last time you used your GPS. All Apple are doing is using a work around so you an always perform a warm start. Isn’t this what is meant by assisted gps! Most phones use some sort of assisted gps!
I have a Nokia N95 and it takes at least 2 minutes (cold start) to start the gps. Warm start takes between 10 seconds (if I have been using it on the same day) or 1 minutes (used it within a week). My friend showed me his iPhone and the gps located his location within 5 seconds. That’s the main reason I switched to the iPhone. Still glad I did.
So what if they tracked me? I’m not important enough to bother.
Oh boy. The almighty Apple has spoken so lets all beleive anything they say. They say there is no tracking going on but they are geotagging the name of any wifi that you encounter even if you dont connect to it the device still sees and can record that info. So they’re not just seeing where a phone is, they’re recording the gps location of every wifi and cell tower. And this is information that they just stated they are building a database of. I was almost happier when I thought they were just tracking my phone.
Quit whining, like apple gives a crap where you are. I’m pretty sure apple knows that you are in your mom’s basement without using their database.
Everyone does it, so Apple is trying to be innocent here.
Actually, I do security work and this isn’t the kind of thing that some of my clients want to have around them. Thank god for a jailbreak giving the ability to delete these files. Even tho your life is insignificant enough that you don’t care if everyone knows where you are, there are many people who do. They are the people who run large corporations and small countries. I understand that your insignificant and therefor cant grasp that concept. Don’t worry, the world needs little people such as yourself as much as they need leaders and the people who protect them.
It kills me how many people have this fantasy that big brother is watching and how many people just don’t get how gps works. Recently I had a conversation with someone who thought you paid for gps and that your phone transmitted a signal to the satellites. Apple was a little too verbose in their descriptions but I kinda doubt they are tracking me because some file exists on my phone to help speed up my gps. Three phones ago I had a HP phone than ran Windows. Sometimes that phone couldn’t even get a gps signal. Very annoying!! My iPhone always gets a signal. Never fails.
I do a lot of traveling in North America, Europe and Asia (and Australia coming soon). I thought it was fun to see where I’ve been. And I highly doubt that I’m important enough for anyone to try to figure out where I’ve been. From the sounds of it, I’m not going to be able to do that any more.
<-sad face
Is the New World Order..!! Big brother is watching you..
I told u so the U’s government wants to see the location services coz bin laden had an iPhone.