“This little known feature became extremely useful when searching for evidence on iPhones.”Īnd so, whether it’s Google’s or Apple’s “creepy” location tracking, ask yourself whether you need this, or is it just another step too far? I don’t let big tech capture my data in this way. “When I used to investigate digital forensics for the police,” Moore told me. But data in storage is data at risk-wherever that might be at rest. Apple only stores its data on your iPhone and protects this with end-to-end encryption.
There is another marked difference between your Timeline and your Significant Locations.
But if your iPhone really needs to capture and store everywhere you go to a hidden database, just so that it can improve your battery life, then we have a serious issue.Īs my colleague Kate O’Flaherty puts it on this week’s STC, the video on top of this story: “Why would anybody want to use any of these features? Why would you want to collect all of your data detailing your location? There is no reason for this.” I have advised users to disable Significant Locations before, which caused some concerns given Apple says it uses significant location data to optimize battery charging. The more information they have on us, the more they can profile and target us so it is advised to look at the privacy settings and turn off location tracking where possible.” The level of accuracy seems rather invasive and it is also a reminder that Apple and Google’s tracking is a huge part of their business models. “When you see all of your frequented locations in one list,” Moore says, “it is quite powerful at making you realize at what detail we are actually tracked. Where Google falls down, just like Facebook, is that it’s not clear that location data can be derived from multiple different places requiring multiple settings changes. But, Google does provide clear reminders your location is being tracked and easy to reach tools to change this. This data is for your phone alone-unlike with Google’s Timeline. It’s a weird standout for the company that puts privacy so publicly first. The fact that the setting os so well hidden is very poor on Apple’s part. Just like Google’s Timeline, it’s a data cache worthy of the best collections efforts of a major intel agency-right there on your iPhone. It links to photo memories and calendar entries, dictating when you should “leave now.” It knows how you travel and how long you take to get there. Your home and office, favorite places to eat, shop and visit. “Your iPhone and iCloud-connected devices,” the company explains, “will keep track of places you have recently been, as well as how often and when you visited them, in order to learn places that are significant to you.” “I cannot think of a positive or useful reason why Apple would include this on any of their devices.”Īpple’s Significant Locations is similar to Google’s Timeline, albeit it captures seemingly arbitrary locations that the AI on the phone considers important. It’s exceptionally well hidden.ĭisabling "Hidden" Significant Locations Setting iOS / locations is one of the features hidden within the privacy section,” ESET’s Jake Moore has warned. I don't need to say that if you’ve spent the extra bucks to get an iPhone for its privacy and security, then enabling Google to track your life and store all that data on its cloud is probably not the wisest decision you’ll make.īut before iPhone users reading this become too complacent as to the differences between their phones and Androids, how many of you have checked the “ secretive” Significant Location setting on your device? How many have heard of the setting or know where to find it? Not that many.
Hidden map on phone android#
“Insights” has now started to roll out on Android devices by market and will likely come to your iPhone at some point. It’s never shared with third parties, and we use world-class anonymization technology.”
Location History powers some of our most helpful features. In response to this story, the company told me “we build choice and transparency into all of our products. The company recently announced the addition of location history reminders to its Timeline, in addition to the controls it has added to Maps and Search. Google is clearly aware of the optics around its capturing so much location data, and points to the tools that allow users to disable or delete this data capture.
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