Are your iPad and iPhone Tracking your Whereabouts?
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According to a new article from the Guardian, security researchers have discovered that iOS devices such as the iPhone and the iPad 3G keep track of your whereabouts. While the ‘feature’ was discovered some time ago, it didn’t get much coverage until the Guardian published a piece about it earlier today.
For some unknown reason, GPS-enabled iOS devices such as 3G iPad 1/2 and iPhone save the location of their owner on a regular basis, in a file stored on the device, and transmitted to iTunes each time the device is plugged into a Mac or a PC.
While the purpose of the file is unknown, it appears that the ‘feature’ was introduced alongside iOS 4, earlier this year. Nobody’s really sure about how much data the file can hold, but the Guardian speculates that the file could hold up to a year worth of data. To add insult to injury, the file does not seem to be difficult to find and read, making it possible “for almost anybody – a jealous spouse, a private detective – with access to your phone or computer to get detailed information about where you’ve been,” according to one of the researchers who helped write the article.
Data extracted from an iPhone location file – Credit: Guardian
While a bit spooky, the presence of this file may not be as bad as it seems – after all, the data may be used by some of Apple’s services such as Find my iPhone/iPad, or could be used to track the whereabouts of iPhone and iPad thieves. Moreover, the research shows that the data is not transmitted to Apple.
Until Apple communicates on the purpose of the file, and until the company encrypts it in a future iteration of iOS, the speculation about its purpose is not going to go away any time soon.
