Apple denies tracking movements of iPhone customers
27 Apr 2011
Apple Inc has denied it was tracking the movements of its iPhone customers. The company added it would provide a software update that stored less location information on phones in response to public outcry over privacy issues.
"Apple is not tracking the location of your iPhone," the company said in a statement today. "Apple has never done so and has no plans to ever do so."
However, the company said its iPhones keep "a database of Wi-Fi hotspots and cell towers around your current locations... to help your iPhone rapidly and accurately calculate its location when requested."
Apple added that some of the location information was stored on each iPhone, and it was backed up in iTunes. This would allow for retrieval of information about their movements.
To address the concerns Apple said it planned to release a new software update that would slash the size of the wireless hotspot location database stored on its iPhones, and stop backing up that information. According to the company, the software would be released in the next few weeks.
Concerns over the matter was voice earlier this month in a report by two computer programmers who presented research showing the iPhone was logging locations.
