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Jailbreak app stops iPhone track-tracking in its tracks

Updated Dec 19th, 2018 7:11PM EST
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Blogs were outraged Wednesday following the rediscovery that 3G-enabled iOS devices like the iPhone store a record of users’ GPS positions in a local file. Of course every person with an iPhone, iPad or iPod touch agreed to let Apple store and use this information, but it’s much more fun to get outraged than it is to read terms and conditions. No matter — for those who don’t want their iPhones to remember that they were pillaging a Dunkin’ Donuts instead of working out at the gym, there is now a simple answer: untrackerd. Jailbroken iDevice owners can now install a simple utility that will stop their devices from storing this information. The app is free and is available in the BigBoss repository, but the app might just be a temporary solution — according to Daring Fireball’s John Gruber, the file that stores location history is actually a cache file that should be cleared out occasionally but isn’t due to a bug or an oversight. Gruber thinks the bug will be fixed in the next iOS update, though no timeline is available at the moment.

[Via @chronic]

Read [untrackerd] Read [Daring Fireball]

Zach Epstein
Zach Epstein Executive Editor

Zach Epstein has been the Executive Editor at BGR for more than 10 years. He manages BGR’s editorial team and ensures that best practices are adhered to. He also oversees the Ecommerce team and directs the daily flow of all content. Zach first joined BGR in 2007 as a Staff Writer covering business, technology, and entertainment.

His work has been quoted by countless top news organizations, and he was recently named one of the world's top 10 “power mobile influencers” by Forbes. Prior to BGR, Zach worked as an executive in marketing and business development with two private telcos.