To All the “Journalists” Who Wrote About the iPhone Tracking Issue

Being late and right is better than being first and wrong. I’m disappointed that so many news outlets rushed to report the story with such a sensational and alarmist tone. A little research goes a long way. Alex Levinson, an iOS forensics analyst, offers some facts:

  • Apple is not collecting the data. The data is only stored on your iPhone and on your computer. It isn’t transmitted to Apple or anyone else.
  • The data is used internally by the iPhone to help apps like Maps and Camera work properly.
  • The file isn’t new. It’s been there since before iOS 4, albeit in a different form and location.

Another rebuttal comes from Will Clarke, who analyzed the data and concluded that “Apple is not storing the device’s location, it’s storing the location of the towers that the device is communicating with.”

In addition to falsely accusing Apple of tracking your every move, many of the articles pointed out that anyone with physical access to your computer could read the file to find out where you’ve been. However, many failed to reassure their readers by mentioning how incredibly simple it is to prevent anyone from reading the file by encrypting your iPhone backups. Here are step-by-step instructions:

  1. Connect your iPhone to your computer via the USB cable
  2. Launch iTunes
  3. Click on your device under “DEVICES” in the left pane
  4. Click on the Summary tab (it should appear by default)
  5. Scroll down to the “Options” section and click on “Encrypt iPhone backup”

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