Apple explains how to use and works positioning data iPhone

Apple has released a series of frequently asked questions regarding the registration of location of the iPhone that should clarify the vast majority of people have doubts and, above all, to eliminate any fear of "following me" that has recently emerged from tabloid headlines, ignorance or paranoia.

First and most importantly, Apple is not logging the location of the iPhone users. No plans to do so and will not. The company accepts that it has not taken sufficient steps to explain the technological challenges to provide fast and accurate positioning while maintaining privacy and security of users.

What the company is doing is to maintain a large database of access points Wi-Fi and cellular towers ( as we explained above ) from the data collected from thousands of iPhones that Apple send you this information anonymously and encrypted. Because this database is so large, the file is saved in the phones is not nothing but a cache of a portion of that database based on physical locations more frequent.

Why build a database using crowdsourcing among all the iPhones? because triangular position using GPS only can take between 5 and 10 minutes, depending on the area and the equipment used (users of the Nokia N95 with GPS first recall everything that took the phone in position in the absence of assistance by cell tower triangulation ), through this method, the positioning is done in just seconds.

The cache of the database itself is stored when generating backups of the iPhone and other information is encrypted if the user chooses (if you have not activated, you should do it from iTunes). Through a software update Apple will reduce the size of the file cache (explaining that because a bug was kept far more data than necessary) and will no longer support it.

Finally, when the next software update to disable Positioning Service (within the configuration of IOS) completely wipes out the local cache stored in the database, I repeat, not a file by which registration is carried where you been.

Apple explains how to use and works positioning the iPhone data written ALT1040 April 27, 2011 by Eduardo Arcos
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