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iOS 13 app tracking alert has dramatically cut location data flow to ad industry

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Re: iOS 13 app tracking alert has dramatically cut location data flow to ad industry

#71
post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When you choose a weather location manually, you actually get a less fine-grained report than the one you get from a GPS-resolved location. Basically, you get weather for "the closest weather station to the geographic centre of the named city" rather than "the closest weather station to you." This can be a big deal if your city has a large altitude range, such that going a few miles east means the difference between…

Why not use a ZIP/postal code?

My ZIP code has a 4,000ft altitude change. Weather at the top is very different from the bottom.

Re: iOS 13 app tracking alert has dramatically cut location data flow to ad industry

#72
post #6

My favorite thing about these features is the number of apps that it’s reminded me to uninstall completely from my devices. The number of apps that I initially installed months ago that didn’t have any of this that suddenly developed tracking notifications is staggering. I never would have known either since the updates happen silently in the background. Great features.

where are you seeing the notifications ? I installed the update and just clicked "use location only while using app" for everything

[deleted]

Re: iOS 13 app tracking alert has dramatically cut location data flow to ad industry

#73
post #47

On the other hand Apple has forced apps to use location data for purposes it should not be used for. Termius, for example, is my favorite iOS SSH app. But according to them, they can’t keep an SSH session running in the background unless they’re constantly tracking your location data. And somehow Apple approved this usage of location data. I don’t want to give Termius my location. I don’t want them tracking me everyw…

the real fix here is to move off ssh onto a mosh server, as it's specifically designed to fix this use-case without requiring a persistent connection https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosh_(software)

Mosh has a number of issues, though. IIRC it doesn't do scrollback, and being "non-standard" it can be problematic to set up.

Re: iOS 13 app tracking alert has dramatically cut location data flow to ad industry

#74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would the situation be different if Apple's biggest rival wasn't basically an advertising and data mining company? I wouldn't put it below Apple to profit from advertising control if Google didn't have an iron grip on it.

And if a frog had wings it wouldn’t bump its ass when it hops. But in our world of ass-bumping frogs, that is our current situation. Beyond that, we’re guessing at motives from Column A, and hypotheticals from Column B.

Heh! :D I never heard frog/wings phrase before, made me laugh.

This frog probably did though, saw bit on tv last week, and thanks to the old data miner (google searched it).

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/amphibians/w/wall...

I prematurely agree, it's not real wings, but bumps its ass a lot less compared to other frogs.

Re: iOS 13 app tracking alert has dramatically cut location data flow to ad industry

#75
post #67

On the other hand Apple has forced apps to use location data for purposes it should not be used for. Termius, for example, is my favorite iOS SSH app. But according to them, they can’t keep an SSH session running in the background unless they’re constantly tracking your location data. And somehow Apple approved this usage of location data. I don’t want to give Termius my location. I don’t want them tracking me everyw…

Anyone know of a good open source alternative to the Termius input on iOS? I loved Termius but didnt realize that keys were uploaded to their servers until I opened it on my laptop and saw it download all my keys. Spent the day rotating all my keys.

You sure it's not just putting them on iCloud Keychain?

Re: iOS 13 app tracking alert has dramatically cut location data flow to ad industry

#77
I'm probably saying the complete obvious, but Apple can completely crush Google if they execute this angle properly.

Google has no choice but to support ads. They're an ad company. Apple has to keep hammering how bad the ad and privacy experiences are with Android. Make iOS an absolute delight to use in contrast.

I'd pay a premium for that. Android has done a great job making me want an iOS device again, these last ten years.

Re: iOS 13 app tracking alert has dramatically cut location data flow to ad industry

#78
post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

iOS really needs a channel for legitimate, real background apps. A lot of its battery life and security advantages over Android come from the fact that it doesn't allow a wild-west of background processes, but there are certain cases where you really do just need that. Apple is good at taking use-cases and creating cohesive stories around the right way to serve them; this one has been long-coming.

Agreed. Camera upload to DropBox is one situation I've run into. Currently it seems like it's using some janky set up where each time I change location it triggers an event to look for new photos to upload but this results in Apple notifying me of DropBox looking up my location X amount of times in the last few days.

Yeah, I think I declined that option so instead every time I open the Dropbox app, I get a notification 5 minutes later saying uploads were paused. It's exhausting.

Re: iOS 13 app tracking alert has dramatically cut location data flow to ad industry

#79
post #6

My favorite thing about these features is the number of apps that it’s reminded me to uninstall completely from my devices. The number of apps that I initially installed months ago that didn’t have any of this that suddenly developed tracking notifications is staggering. I never would have known either since the updates happen silently in the background. Great features.

where are you seeing the notifications ? I installed the update and just clicked "use location only while using app" for everything

I don't know if you'll get them at all for apps where you said "only while using". They're intended for apps that use your location in the background. The OS just prompts you at some point to make sure you want to keep giving the app access to your location while in the background.

Re: iOS 13 app tracking alert has dramatically cut location data flow to ad industry

#80
post #2

And it’s not just location data. I am amazed at how many apps want Bluetooth, too. Umm, there isn’t a single listed feature that indicates a need for BT, why are you asking? Oh, so you can use that as a tracking vector, too. Well, not only do you not get BT, you don’t get to live on my phone anymore, either. As for the advertisers, boo-hoo. You raised a finger (or two, depending on locale) to “do not track”, you thin…

A lot of apps ask for Bluetooth because Google Chromecast wanted it. I think Google put out a Chromecast framework update to fix this, though I'm not positive.
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