iPhone 4 - Tracking

You may or may not have noticed some news floating around about a file that is on your iPhone or iPad which records your location, then timestamps that data and records it for posterity.

Apparently the hidden file that holds the data (consolidated.db) is relatively easy to uncover and read, making any PC/laptop you've backed your phone up to and the phone itself even bigger privacy dangers than they would usually be.

The recording of phone user’s movements isn’t new. Mobile networks use cell tower triangulation technologies to record phone user’s movements. However this information is only available to the police for obvious legal purposes.

Here is the reference to Apple’s terms and conditions related to this matter:

"Apple and our partners and licensees may collect, use, and share precise location data, including the real-time geographic location of your Apple computer or device. This location data is collected anonymously in a form that does not personally identify you and is used by Apple and our partners and licensees to provide and improve location-based products and services. For example, we may share geographic location with application providers when you opt in to their location services."

Apple does say that this data is collected anonymously and does not personally identify you which may provide some assurances. However, because the information in this consolidated.db file is relatively easy to extract, you may need to take additional security measures to ensure it’s not easily accessible by people who may physically gain possession of your phone or PC/Laptop.

1. Make sure you have a ‘passcode’ number to access your iPhone and when you create a backup using itunes, make sure its encrypted. At the end of this article there is more information how to do this.

2. If you sync/backup your iPhone with iTunes on a PC/laptop than you may also want to make sure that your PC/laptop is password protected and any backup files you may have are encrypted.

Encrypting Backups.

In the iTunes Summary screen, select "Encrypt iPhone backup" if you want to encrypt the information stored on your computer when iTunes makes a backup. Encrypted backups are indicated by a padlock icon (as visible below in the Deleting a Backup section), and a password is required to restore the information to iPhone. You may want to write down the password for your backup and store it in a safe place. If you use a Mac, when you set a password you can select to store the password in the keychain. With iOS 4 and later, you can transfer your keychain backup to a new device if you encrypt the backup.

Warning: If you encrypt an iPhone backup in iTunes and then forget your password, you will not be able to restore from backup and your data will be unrecoverable. If you forget the password you can continue to do backups and use the device, however you will not be able to restore the encrypted backup to any device without the password. You do not need to enter the password for your backup each time you back up or sync.

If you cannot remember the password and want to start again, you will have to do a full software restore and when prompted by iTunes to select the backup to restore from, choose Set up as a new device.