iPhone records your every move!

Mikey1000 · 19 Oct 2013 at 09:42

An interesting new feature to the iPhone iOS 7 update is it can reveal the exact time and location of your every move!

Having read about this feature I decided to set the phone to Airplane Mode when I was at a location I didn't want logged. This cuts off all data and phone connections and I assumed it would also stop the phone communicating my exact location - it doesn't!

It shows exactly where I was today/yesterday with the precise time of arrival, departure, the exact address including house number and a full record of how many times I've been there.

Apple have buried it deep in the system software.
To find it and turn it off go to:
Settings - Privacy - Location Services -Scroll right down to the bottom of the long list to
System Services - bottom item again - Frequent Locations.

This appears to be turned on by default - so if you've just upgraded to iOS 7 or have a new iPhone with it on already then I recommend sorting it ASAP.

A couple of choices if you don't want it to display any locations.
Either go into this and turn it off to prevent it recording any future locations, or remember to scroll to the bottom of the 'History' list and press 'clear history' but with the second option it rather defeats the object as it deletes every location and it may have been better to turn it off in the first place.

The only way I've found to make sure it doesn't log any private locations but still logs and keeps general locations is to switch off this feature before you go to a private location and back on when you've come away!
Time consuming I know but better to be safe than sorry!

snips86x · 19 Oct 2013 at 09:49

Good reason not to get one!

typk · 19 Oct 2013 at 10:09

Android has the same feature, I'm not too bothered as long as the data stays private.

Kreeeee · 19 Oct 2013 at 10:10

So does Andrioid: https://maps.google.com/locationhistory/b/0

Lakeland · 19 Oct 2013 at 10:12

This must be a massive part of the mobile phone industries business model

Mikey1000 · 19 Oct 2013 at 10:23

Tizzer said:
Android has the same feature, I'm not too bothered as long as the data stays private.

Exactly, the problem only arises if someone - apart from yourself - wants to check it!

lamboman · 19 Oct 2013 at 10:57

The feature is similar to what Google Now does, in order to provide you with travel information when out and about (eg. how long it'll take you to get home), IIRC.

Worth noting (and I was actually considering making a thread on this) that the only two System Location Settings that you'll want enabled are Compass Calibration and Setting Time Zone. The rest either provide information to Apple (unnecessary to enable) or they're not necessarily useful.

Think that the response is a bit heavy however. All the Location Services are enabled if you enable Location Services, and Google do the same thing.

Skillmister · 19 Oct 2013 at 12:10

Kreeeee said:
So does Andrioid: https://maps.google.com/locationhistory/b/0

Awesome, never knew about that. It's crazy how much it logs! Accurate time spent at work, at home, "out" but not at work. Has mates addresses as frequent visited locations.. Logged location of any trips that are out of the norm or far away.

Yas786 · 19 Oct 2013 at 13:17

Kreeeee said:
So does Andrioid: https://maps.google.com/locationhistory/b/0

Wow thats amazing, just had a look and its got my trip to Australia last year lol.

But for some odd reason it hasnt been updating my location recently. Last time it figured out my location was last yr when i was with my missus at her flat in Shepherds bush London.

ajf · 19 Oct 2013 at 20:19

Kreeeee said:
So does Andrioid: https://maps.google.com/locationhistory/b/0

Wow, I never knew this!
Catches some odd movement occasionally though. I guess based on the accuracy of the mapping at that time.

Not too bothered but surprised this is more widely publicized!

Bommy · 19 Oct 2013 at 21:35

I had a feeling my phone logged my location from time to time but those maps are scarily accurate. Tracks my route to and from work pretty accurately and I can even see where I got lost whilst driving last week!

deuse · 19 Oct 2013 at 21:42

Kreeeee said:
So does Andrioid: https://maps.google.com/locationhistory/b/0

Nothing for me I use Sygic not google maps.

Myshra · 19 Oct 2013 at 22:23

Phone networks keep your location data for a year for the record and have done for a really really long time.

Pawnless Endgame · 19 Oct 2013 at 23:39

So, do we actually need Cerberus now?

Brenn47 · 19 Oct 2013 at 23:51

Myshra said:
Phone networks keep your location data for a year for the record and have done for a really really long time.

Phone networks aren't mental partners/ex-partners!

Caged · 20 Oct 2013 at 00:01

Lakeland said:
This must be a massive part of the mobile phone industries business model

How?

chaparral · 20 Oct 2013 at 08:59

Myshra said:
Phone networks keep your location data for a year for the record and have done for a really really long time.

There no way they should be allowed to do this...

Skillmister · 20 Oct 2013 at 10:41

I'm looking forward to how it copes on my trip round france next month

asim18 · 20 Oct 2013 at 14:48

Myshra said:
Phone networks keep your location data for a year for the record and have done for a really really long time.

That's cell geo-location/triangulation data right?

Or do they actually tap into your GPS chip and tap its data?

chaparral said:
There no way they should be allowed to do this...

Well. Phone companies need money, and governments want surveillance data. So whatever's gotta happen will happen unfortunately. This is why I wish I was born in the 70s.

Brenn47 · 20 Oct 2013 at 15:09

I used to be a Databuild Engineer, wrote the data that made a phone network work, before that I worked as a Switch Tech looking after the hardware. We had no equipment to record all the users location data, there was a cabinet full of laptops that passed calls to a *listening post* but you had to sign the Official Secrets act to have access to the cabinet.