Why is Apple recording iPhone and iPad users' locations?

April 20, 2011 10:42 AM
Sid Yadav
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Apple’s iPhone and iPad devices have long been storing positions and timestamps in a hidden file on the user’s computer. That’s according to developers Alasdair Allan and Pete Warden, who plan to report their finding at the Where 2.0 conference today in Santa Clara, Calif.

Allan stumbled on the discovery while looking through iTunes’ backup files on his computer. Author of the book “Learning iPhone Programming” for O’Reilly Media, Allan came across “consolidated.db”, a backup file updated whenever a user syncs their iPhone or iPad with iTunes. Sequenced in a simple database, the file contained thousands of regularly gathered datapoints of the user’s latitude-longitude coordinates and timestamps, which for some phones have dated back to as much as a year.

iPhone TrackerWhile Allan and Warden suggest there is no immediate privacy concern from the data, they question why Apple is storing it, and why it is kept unencrypted and relatively accessible. In a a blog post about the finding, they recommended iPhone and iPad users encrypt their backups through Apple’s media management software, iTunes.

The duo have also released “iPhone Tracker”, an application for the Mac that reads the backup file and projects a map visualization of the stored data. Trying out the application, I could see close to every location I’ve been to in the past year — which is particularly alarming.

“Apple has made it possible for almost anybody – a jealous spouse, a private detective – with access to your phone or computer to get detailed information on where you’ve been,” Warden told The Guardian. The company has yet to comment on the discovery.

In the video below, the pair discuss the finding and its implications.

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  • http://www.bigjobsboard.com/ Brad Jobs

    Why is the biggest question! I can't live with this kind of conspiracy of whatever you call it. My concern is…..Apple knows when I am in the bathroom! lol Thanks for sharing the video here.

  • http://twitter.com/blueandgold63 kent beuchert

    Only true paranoids worry about such silly things. That data could be very valuable in tracking criminals. Now just exactly who do you thinks gives a damn about where you've been? Do you really think your whereabouts would make things easy for a blackmailer? If you are concerned about your wife hiring a detective, then I think you have a marriage not worth a damn. When dealing with paranoids, logic goes out the window. They are people who think themselves very important, for no apparent reason.

  • http://profiles.google.com/enoeht36 Antawn Morris

    hey ignorant ass, it's not about being paranoid. what it is about your privacy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • http://venturebeat.com/2011/08/17/27k-iphone-users-in-south-korea-sue-apple-over-location-tracking/ 27K iPhone users in South Korea sue Apple over location tracking | VentureBeat

    [...] blamed a bug in iOS4 for the supposed location tracking in the iPhone and iPad. The issue was initially dug up by two developers who found mysterious files on their computers with timestamps and location information. Apple says [...]

  • http://androidrockstar.com/?p=25667 Android RockStar | 27K iPhone users in South Korea sue Apple over location tracking

    [...] Apple blamed a bug in iOS4 for the supposed location tracking in the iPhone and iPad. The issue was initially dug up by two developers who found mysterious files on their computers with timestamps and location information. Apple says [...]

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