Chez Moncef

I cannot believe how hard it was to find this information online. I searched for all kinds of phrases and keywords on Google and AT&T’s forums, but couldn’t find the answer to my specific question. If you’re in the same boat, hopefully this post will save you much frustration.

Joanna and I both had our own iPhone 4S’s in separate AT&T accounts. I wanted to add her iPhone as a second line on my account, and then put them both in a FamilyTalk plan. After a quick trip to the local AT&T store this morning, we learned that Joanna first had to initiate a Transfer of Ownership. The AT&T representative told us that could only be done over the phone, but I knew better.

Once back home, we logged on to Joanna’s AT&T account, and all she had to do was go to the “Wireless” tab and then click on “Transfer Account Ownership” under “Account Changes”. After entering my name and email address, I got an email asking me to confirm the transfer. From that point, I just followed the self-explanatory instructions on the website, and now we’re all set.

By doing all of this online, we saved $18, which is what AT&T charges for performing the transfer of ownership over the phone.

John Gruber asks a pertinent question, then offers a plausible explanation:

The big question of course, is why Apple is storing this information. I don’t have a definitive answer, but my little-birdie-informed understanding is that consolidated.db acts as a cache for location data, and that historical data should be getting culled but isn’t, either due to a bug or, more likely, an oversight. I.e. someone wrote the code to cache location data but never wrote code to cull non-recent entries from the cache, so that a database that’s meant to serve as a cache of your recent location data is instead a persistent log of your location history. I’d wager this gets fixed in the next iOS update.

Surprisingly, he also contributes to the alarmism:

It’s worse than that, though, because even if you are encrypting your backups, it’s also available to anyone who has physical access to your iPhone.

That’s only true if you haven’t enabled Passcode Lock on your iPhone. If someone has physical access to your computer and/or your iPhone—and neither of them are password-protected—then that someone has access to everything on them. If you’re really worried about your approximate whereabouts being discovered, then secure your computer and your iPhone. That’s just common sense. Moreover, if you lose your unsecured iPhone, you can set a passcode lock or wipe all your data remotely via Find My iPhone.

Andy Ihnatko can’t decide whether this is troubling or dismissible:

But still! What a nervous can of worms. This is an open, unlocked file in a known location in a standard database format that anybody can read. If someone has physical access to your Mac — or remote access to your user account — it’s a simple matter of copying a file and opening it.

This comes right after he writes this:

It’s pretty much a non-issue if you’ve clicked the “Encrypt iPhone Backup” option in iTunes. Even with physical access to your desktop, a no-goodnik wouldn’t be able to access the logfile.

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”

One of the top Tech stories today (according to Zite) revolves around the purported change in the way apps are ranked in the App Store and Android Market. The speculation is that the ranking is now based mostly on usage rather than downloads.

I’ve always questioned the validity of download numbers as a meaningful metric. If a million people downloaded your app, but only a hundred are actively using it, you’re not winning. I have 417 iPhone and iPad apps on my Mac, but I only use 24 regularly.

Why did it take Apple and Google this long to make the change?

(Sources: Inside Mobile Apps, AppleInsider, Guardian, mocoNews)