Do apps still have access to location history data? If so this is a nothingburger.
Apps have never had access to location history data. iOS itself tracks this info to enhance some OS-provided features, but apps cannot get at it.
iOS 11 Location Privacy: "Only While Using" is now always an option for users
171–180 of 193 posts
Re: iOS 11 Location Privacy: "Only While Using" is now always an option for users
#172Earlier quoted context omitted.
Waze uses that info to let you know when you have to leave for your appointment, including regular appointments you have but did not tell it about (if you drive to "5 Mcdonald Road" every day, around 4pm, then after a while, it will start suggesting it). I dislike this feature intensely, so I actually have my location services turned off, and I only turn it on before using Waze or Maps. (Oh, and it seems that the App…
> Oh, and it seems that the Apple "Use location to set timezone and GPS to set time" will use the GPS even if you turned that specific feature off - unless all location servies have been turned off. Or at least, that's my experience, but it might just mean my phone is bugged You sure it isn't just getting that info from the cell towers?
I am sure that the small triangle indicator comes up for a few seconds occasionally (I notice once in a couple of days) despite every single system service and app location permission being "off", and that the "time setting" is listed as "having used location services in the last 24 hours" (the indicator is never there long enough for me to get a "using it now" reading).
When the entire "location service" is off, it does not happen (it might use the services for all I know, but the indicator doesn't light up)
Re: iOS 11 Location Privacy: "Only While Using" is now always an option for users
#173Earlier quoted context omitted.
>There's no good reason it should do so when backgrounded. Wrong, and it's especially irksome that just because you cannot think of a good reason, you leap to the unfounded conclusion that there is no good reason. When you are driving and not using the app and not even thinking about the fact that you have the app, and not planning to use it, it can still be gathering useful traffic information to help route other us…
Then explain that to users and let them decide what they want to share instead of opting everyone in by default with no choice to opt out (this is really more "forcing" than "opting" if there is no option).
I think you're getting confused here.
There is no opting everyone in by default for location on iOS. They have to explicitly opt themselves in, if they want to. Otherwise they are opted out by default. This goes for all apps and is enforced by Apple in order to maintain a good experience for the user.
Re: iOS 11 Location Privacy: "Only While Using" is now always an option for users
#174Earlier quoted context omitted.
There's no good reason it should do so when backgrounded.
>There's no good reason it should do so when backgrounded. Wrong, and it's especially irksome that just because you cannot think of a good reason, you leap to the unfounded conclusion that there is no good reason. When you are driving and not using the app and not even thinking about the fact that you have the app, and not planning to use it, it can still be gathering useful traffic information to help route other us…
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Re: iOS 11 Location Privacy: "Only While Using" is now always an option for users
#175Earlier quoted context omitted.
I've been using this for precisely the reasons you mention: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/where-have-i-been/id64155398... Google's location history is excellent and I'd gladly pay for an equivalent application which I could self-host and set up with the minimum of hassle, but having them do it creeps me out too much. I've not managed to work out how to get OwnTracks to substitute fully for it.
Awesome, thanks for the link. I had been using Moves by ProtoGeo https://appsto.re/us/PNDwE.i and it's not very accurate. Still good for going back and remembering that awesome random place you found on vacation after the fact so you can recommend it. I also wish the NSA had something like a personal data explore, but I know that will never happen.
Unfortunately I've not found WHIB to be enormously accurate either, but it does well enough. The main nuisance is interpreting having paused whilst walking past an establishment has having gone in it.
Even Google's version couldn't get this right, at least in my case.
Re: iOS 11 Location Privacy: "Only While Using" is now always an option for users
#176Earlier quoted context omitted.
It's not necessary to uninstall the app after each use to prevent tracking - in Settings...Privacy...Location Services, you can disable location on a per-app basis. (this is admittedly a pain, and Apple enforcing in-use-only option availability is a welcome change)
Usually these snoopy apps refuse to run unless you enable it first. So you still have to remember to turn it back off when you're done.
It is not allowed for apps to refuse to run without location permissions. If you do that the app will be rejected. So no, 'usually' apps do not do that. iOS is not Android.
Re: iOS 11 Location Privacy: "Only While Using" is now always an option for users
#177Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I like all the new things coming in iOS11, including this. Killing 32b-only-applications i do not like :/
Killing 32-bit-only-applications sucks for those apps that haven't been updated in years, but it speeds up the OS and should give you a bit of disk space back as well.
The difference in disk space is basically nonexistent (I could gain significantly more by removing the 32b apps applications, especially since most are games), and the OS speedup/memory gain should be limited and mostly applicable to when you're actually launching 32b applications.
Re: iOS 11 Location Privacy: "Only While Using" is now always an option for users
#178Earlier quoted context omitted.
Usually these snoopy apps refuse to run unless you enable it first. So you still have to remember to turn it back off when you're done.
It is not allowed for apps to refuse to run without location permissions. If you do that the app will be rejected. So no, 'usually' apps do not do that. iOS is not Android.
Hmm, good point. Thanks for drawing the distinction.
Re: iOS 11 Location Privacy: "Only While Using" is now always an option for users
#179Earlier quoted context omitted.
Usually these snoopy apps refuse to run unless you enable it first. So you still have to remember to turn it back off when you're done.
That's what the "Only While Using" option is all about. In iOS 10 (and earlier), apps could choose to request location tracking "Only While Using" or to request it "Always". Uber switched from the former to the latter. And the article you're commenting on is all about how iOS 11 will add "Only While Using" back as an option for all apps, so you can set it that way even though Uber doesn't want you to.
Appreciate the explanation.
Re: iOS 11 Location Privacy: "Only While Using" is now always an option for users
#180Earlier quoted context omitted.
>You always have the option of simply not upgrading iOS. It's a trade off. Unfortunately, Apple gives you no way to opt-out of updates. I've figured out a way to block them at the firewall level, which seems to work, for now.
Apple doesn't force updates. You can simply ignore the OTA update. I believe you'll get prompted again every time a new update is released, but hitting "Ignore" occasionally is a small price to pay.
>Apple doesn't force updates.
Constant popups _are_ the means to force updates. In addition they also throw up a nagware screen where they trick you to enter your pin to schedule updates. Apple employs several dark patterns, on iOS, and also on MacOS to trick the user and its rather sad to see them follow MS/FB/Google.
>I believe you'll get prompted again every time a new update is released,
That is not true. They do it multiple times for the same update. Look, I wouldn't care if they were simply security updates, but Apple updates bloat up and slow down the phone over time. On top of that, what makes it even more egregious is that they make it impossible for me to downgrade, and go back to a state where the phone was working just fine and I was happy with it.
>but hitting "Ignore" occasionally is a small price to pay.
You make it sound like its once in a year. Unfortunately, Apple constantly nags you to the point where, unless you're constantly looking out for it, its easy to accidentally hit the wrong button. Its sad that they have had to resort to tricking the user to drive their update stats.