Don't panic but Apple knows exactly where you are/been

WASDted 1 572 Views

This week on Oreilly.com, Alasdair Allan and Pete Warden revealed their discovery that Apple tracks and saves your location via iOS4 through your iPhone or iPad. This has sent a wripple of concern across the country and many people are demanding to know why Apple stores this info and how they intend to use it.

Apple managed to ruffle the feathers of senator Al Franken who . If you have an iPhone or an iPad I urge you to watch the 20 minute video of Allan and Warden who showcase the possibilities of iOS location tracking. Pay close attention around the 12 minute mark where Allan showcases his travelling behavior graphically, based on the info extracted from his iPhone.[youtube]GynEFV4hsA0[/youtube]Your cell phone provider tracks your location; so do some cars (via GPS); some local law enforcement agencies track your cell data as well . So are you concerned with Apple tracking your every move? Take the survey at the top and write your comments below. This should be an interesting discussion.

apple-tracking.jpg 14.28 KB
sergent commented: Nice news +0

Dani AI

Generated

Brief, practical follow‑up to ’s thread that fills gaps left by the original posts and replies from , and others.

The core issue was a local “location cache” kept by iOS and—when users created normal (not encrypted) iTunes backups—present in those backups. That made a readable timeline recoverable from the computer, not because Apple was necessarily sending the whole history off the device. The privacy risk comes from local files and backups being accessible to someone with access to the machine.

How to check and reduce exposure (simple, concrete steps):

Mac OS X:
~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup/

Windows 7 / Vista:
C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\

Windows XP:
C:\Documents and Settings\<username>\Application Data\Apple Computer\MobileSync\Backup\
  • Each backup appears as a GUID folder. Old backups can contain the cached location DB.
  • Remove or archive old unencrypted backups if the location history is a concern.
  • Enable “Encrypt iPhone backup” in iTunes and create a fresh encrypted backup to protect future backups.
  • To remove device-side cached history, a factory restore (set up as a new device) clears local caches; back up anything needed first.

Clarifications tied to thread posts:

  • : Airplane Mode stops live reporting while it's enabled, but it does not erase previously stored logs.
  • Turning off Location Services prevents new geolocation collection (depends on iOS version where the option appears) but again won’t remove historical entries already in backups.
  • ’s point about tradeoffs is apt: caching speeds up fixes but introduces a local-privacy tradeoff.

Cautions: deleting backups removes restore points; prefer encrypted backups for ongoing privacy. This was an OS-era behavior—software and backup workflows change over time—so checking current OS privacy settings and update notes is advisable.

Member Avatar for jingda
jingda 135 Industrious Poster

That means my macbook is safe from prying eyes. Does off airport in my ipad and iphone help to block those apple guys from tracking where i am.

commented: Sorry +3
Member Avatar for jingda
jingda 135 Industrious Poster

What are you doing uniqinfotech ?

sergent commented: -1 -1
Member Avatar for nickadam
nickadam 8 Newbie Poster

This is such an amazing useful resource that you’re providing and you give it away for free. I really like seeing websites that perceive the value of providing a quality useful resource for free.


Good work

Edited by nickadam because: n/a
Ezzaral commented: You do realize your signature doesn't show up on this post right? Spam fail. -3
Member Avatar for denysaputra
denysaputra -3 Light Poster

that like many people wanted!

Member Avatar for matricol
matricol -8 Junior Poster in Training

is that a bad thing ? :)

Member Avatar for matricol
matricol -8 Junior Poster in Training

That means my macbook is safe from prying eyes. Does off airport in my ipad and iphone help to block those apple guys from tracking where i am.

That means that you have a macbook made for other purposes :) who knows

Be a part of the DaniWeb community

We're a friendly, industry-focused community of developers, IT pros, digital marketers, and technology enthusiasts meeting, networking, learning, and sharing knowledge.

Edit Preview