Over the years I've considered switching to Android a few times but Apple's really locking in as my preferred device from their privacy work.
Not sure this moves the needle with consumers but it does for me.
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
#22The alert is annoying although for apps you want to have always on location tracking although, like some life logging apps. (Arc, etc) It's like OS doesn't want to accept there are apps you want always on location tracking on and for it to stop annoying you about it.
Yeah, I'm a little annoyed that there isn't an option for "no really, always allow". I understand that there's good privacy reasons to keep asking -- but I'm quite aware that a weather app will need access to my location, and I'm okay with that.
That's how it works in Android. Per app, you can set to Always allow location, Always deny location, or Allow only when app is in use.
Re: iOS 13 app tracking alert has dramatically cut location data flow to ad industry
#23The alert is annoying although for apps you want to have always on location tracking although, like some life logging apps. (Arc, etc) It's like OS doesn't want to accept there are apps you want always on location tracking on and for it to stop annoying you about it.
Yeah, I'm a little annoyed that there isn't an option for "no really, always allow". I understand that there's good privacy reasons to keep asking -- but I'm quite aware that a weather app will need access to my location, and I'm okay with that.
You can choose the weather location manually. I have a list of cities and default to the one I live in. There’s absolutely no reason for the weather app to know my location down to the square metre.
Re: iOS 13 app tracking alert has dramatically cut location data flow to ad industry
#24On 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 everywhere I go. But apparently that’s the only way they can keep my SSH session alive when I need to switch to Safari for a few minutes?
Re: iOS 13 app tracking alert has dramatically cut location data flow to ad industry
#25Next step is to download Lockdown, open source and on device firewall. It also offers a VPN with an in-app purchase (kinda confusing when you are setting it up), but for free you get the firewall only. Easy to enable and block known ad-trackers (including FB sdk and Google Ads). Highly recommend. It's also made by ex Apple engineers, in case that helps for building trustworthiness. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/lockd…
Maybe I'm just skeptical and a cynic, but... > VPN with an in-app purchase Lets pay for a product, and they have the ability to sell that data. I get, acting like a pi-hole and what-not but, a VPN for that task seems overkill.
The VPN is optional purchase. I mentioned it since the setup is a bit misleading. The DNS blocking is free and on-device and available to run after skipping the VPN part. Pi-hole is harder to get right with a mobile device on the go unless you are hosting on your server. This is basically an app with a subset of features of pi-hole. iOS is very restrictive and to enable the on-device firewall you do need to use the VPN functionality but you can check the VPN profile it installs that references 127.0.0.1.
Re: iOS 13 app tracking alert has dramatically cut location data flow to ad industry
#26On 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…
Termius is lying. They could just as easily played silent audio in the background to keep the app from being suspended. Although in my opinion both practices should cause them to be rejected from the AppStore since they’re clearly misusing the APIs. Must be an oversight from the review team at Apple.
Re: iOS 13 app tracking alert has dramatically cut location data flow to ad industry
#27On 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…
>And somehow Apple approved this usage of location data.
On one hand I agree with you, that's crazy that your SSH program put that limit on there for clearly tracking purposes. But I guess I sort of disagree this is Apple's problem to solve. It's yours.
Apple made the changes to inform and educate you the customer that an app that is abusing your trust.
The solution is not to force Apple to police developers but for you to stop using Terminus. Call it a free market solution if you like.
The difference with real and ideal is that Terminus could absolutely find a "legitimate" use for location and it would scoot right by Apple review anyhow. So let them be upfront they're bad people being bad.
(Before it comes... I KNOW... Apple walled garden and how they do this a lot anyhow! But, as someone who has walled garden issues with Apple, we should encourage information and education over big brother protecting us. It might not be consistent for them, but I think it's the right move here)
Re: iOS 13 app tracking alert has dramatically cut location data flow to ad industry
#28Over the years I've considered switching to Android a few times but Apple's really locking in as my preferred device from their privacy work. Not sure this moves the needle with consumers but it does for me.
The article is from Apple Insider, so I guess it's no surprise they don't mention it, but Android 10 has the same functionality, including reminders and per-app 3-way location tracking settings (always on, on with app open, off).
Re: iOS 13 app tracking alert has dramatically cut location data flow to ad industry
#29Next step is to download Lockdown, open source and on device firewall. It also offers a VPN with an in-app purchase (kinda confusing when you are setting it up), but for free you get the firewall only. Easy to enable and block known ad-trackers (including FB sdk and Google Ads). Highly recommend. It's also made by ex Apple engineers, in case that helps for building trustworthiness. https://apps.apple.com/us/app/lockd…
This app is not a firewall, it's a 'DNS sinkhole'.
Any app can easily circumvent this "firewall" by simply falling back to hard coded public ips of their servers if the domain lookup doesn't work.
I'm not saying it's a bad app, but it's misleading to call their app a "firewall".
Re: iOS 13 app tracking alert has dramatically cut location data flow to ad industry
#30The alert is annoying although for apps you want to have always on location tracking although, like some life logging apps. (Arc, etc) It's like OS doesn't want to accept there are apps you want always on location tracking on and for it to stop annoying you about it.
Yeah, I'm a little annoyed that there isn't an option for "no really, always allow". I understand that there's good privacy reasons to keep asking -- but I'm quite aware that a weather app will need access to my location, and I'm okay with that.
There is an Always option. It just doesn’t show on the pop up. But if you go to settings -> privacy -> location services you see a list of apps, and if the app registers for always, it will have that option