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iOS 8 tracks your physical activity by default

news.ycombinator.com

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iOS 8 tracks your physical activity by default

#1
- Step 1: prepare yourself - Step 2: open the "health" app - Step 3: open "health data" - Step 4: open "fitness" from the menu - Step 5: open "steps" - Step 6: WTF! - Step 7: search for other data your phone is keeping on you without letting you know and post it here.

Re: iOS 8 tracks your physical activity by default

#5
post #4
post #3

Yeah, this isn't new. This is what the M7 (and the M8 inside iPhone 6) does. And more importantly, this data is never stored in the cloud and never leaves your device, according to Apple.

On by default? I'm not cool with that - are you?

Yeah I am actually.

What does it matter when the data never leaves the device?

And it's not like it's draining your battery either. M7/M8 are very low power.

Re: iOS 8 tracks your physical activity by default

#6
Spying on you by default... A lot of people don't understand how much self-incriminating information there is in all that physical activity data. Imagine you're accused of committing a violent murder. And you own an iPhone. And you claim you were sleeping at that time. But your physical acitvity data shows otherwise.

Re: iOS 8 tracks your physical activity by default

#7
post #6

Spying on you by default... A lot of people don't understand how much self-incriminating information there is in all that physical activity data. Imagine you're accused of committing a violent murder. And you own an iPhone. And you claim you were sleeping at that time. But your physical acitvity data shows otherwise.

Wouldn't they need to decrypt the data in the first place? But perhaps that digresses from the point...

Re: iOS 8 tracks your physical activity by default

#8
post #6

Spying on you by default... A lot of people don't understand how much self-incriminating information there is in all that physical activity data. Imagine you're accused of committing a violent murder. And you own an iPhone. And you claim you were sleeping at that time. But your physical acitvity data shows otherwise.

Wouldn't they need to decrypt the data in the first place? But perhaps that digresses from the point...

The major problem is parallel construction. If the police can use this data - obtained illegally and surreptitiously using tools like accessdata or cellebrite to search for confirmation, they could extract a plea from you or find/manufacture other facts that do incriminate you or tear down your defense.

Re: iOS 8 tracks your physical activity by default

#10
post #9

Install fitbit in ios7 on a iphone 5s. You will get the same result. I dont see this as a problem it doesnt track your gps only your steps.

It's not quite the same, because the first time you launch the FitBit app, iOS asks you if you want to give the FitBit app access to your motion data. This works the same with every 3rd party app.

With the Health app in iOS 8, it grants implicit permission and there is apparently no way to remove permissions to your motion data for the Health app.

Is that data going into Apple's cloud? I don't believe so. Is it a big deal to this cloud-conscious guy? Not really.

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