Apple address iOS location controversy with Q&A, fixes on the way.


Apple Wednesday issued a statement of sorts regarding the iOS location issue.

Essentially Apple explained that the iPhone is not tracking user's location, but listing the location of WiFi hotspots and cell towers, as we kind of figured out. The goal is to provide a system of quickly obtaining a user location, when they request it, without relying exclusively on GPS. GPS is battery intensive, slow, and requires a good view of the sky for an accurate location.

Interestingly, it sounds like the datafile on the iPhone is not recorded by the user's movement, but actually downloaded from Apple. It sounds like Apple has a crowd sourced database of WiFi hotspots and cell towers, and transmits this data to your phone, depending where your'e at. So, if you happen to hop off a plane in Florida, it seems the local database will be updated with known hotspots and towers near you. Apps then can use this database to assist in location. That actually sounds pretty cool.

One sticking point, however, Apple is in fact building this database from iPhone users. It said the data 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." Apple didn't elaborate how this data is collected, just that it is anonymous and encrypted. It's also not clear if users can opt out of this collection, which would seem a good idea to empower users.

The big issue, however, is why does Apple maintain such a big database on the iPhone. Apple considers this a bug, which it said it will fix in a future release. So, rather than maintaining a database of WiFi and cell towers from where you were months ago, it sounds like Apple will keep that database relevant to more recent travels. Apple also said it will no longer back up the database to your computer. That means it can't be found on your computer by someone snooping around. Also, Apple will have the database delete from the phone when you turn location servers off. Presumably it will re-download when the services are reactivated.

Those are three very good ideas that should address everyone's concerns.

Apple Q&A on Location Data