[russellbeattie]

"Turning off" location history == Don't show me my location history. It's not like Google (or Apple) is going to actually stop tracking you.

I love showing iPhone users the section in Settings where all their location history is. Most have no idea it's there.

[massel]

Do you also show them the part where it says "Significant Locations are encrypted and cannot be read by Apple"? They're local to the device, not sent back to them.

[zepto]

The iPhone location history is on your iPhone not at Apple.

And Apple doesn’t track you. They cycle identifiers regularly for exactly this reason.

Spreading falsehoods about this being something everyone does is harmful because it normalizes the abusive behavior from those that actually do.

[russellbeattie]

In order for your location as given by GPS to be useful, a round trip to a server is made to convert that information into a street address. This geocoding could be done client side, but for practical purposes, it's not. This is even moreso for additional external information mobiles use to better locate you, such as known WiFi access points, "beacons" and cell tower IDs.

All of that server traffic is logged (by both Apple and your carrier), and can be requested by law enforcement if needed. Regardless of what Apple marketing and lawyers would like you to think, your phone is being tracked in real time, always. Always.

[zepto]

You are just guessing, right?

I’m aware of Apple’s geocoding service. It uses an encrypted connection, so the server traffic is not ‘logged by your carrier’, and they use transient identifiers so your location is not ‘logged by Apple’ and can’t be ‘requested by law enforcement if needed’.

Carriers are a different matter, but don’t make stuff up about Apple.

[Lendal]

The reason the location history is not local is because the data is for Timeline, a feature of Google Maps which has its own web site. If the data were only local, I wouldn't be able to use a web browser on my computer to peruse my Timeline and photos from my phone. It would be broken.

[zepto]

What are you talking about? We know google is keeping tracking data despite users turning it off.

But Apple is not.

[Lendal]

Read the article.

[zepto]

I did, and it supports my point.

Nowhere does it say anything about apple tracking people.

What’s your point?

[tokyodude]

If Apple doesn't track me then why does icloud.com force me to re-login every time I switch which country I'm in? How would they know I moved countries (plane/vpn) if I weren't remembering where I was previously?

[pacala]

IP

[tokyodude]

in other words it tracks me..it's not when I switch ips. it's when u switch countries. it may be figuring that out by up but it had to remember my previous ip and distiguish country which is by definition tracking

[ferongr]

How do you know? Have you audited the source of iOS?

[zepto]

No but I believe the technical whitepapers and public statements Apple has made.

If you are going to just claim they are lying, you are the one who needs evidence.