It’s supposed to be helpful in case you lose your phone. Instead, it’s actually pretty dangerous.
There’s a feature on your iPhone that you probably didn’t know about. It’s a feature that is suggested as a safety feature, a feature that’s supposed to be really helpful if you ever lose your phone. But many people are also suggesting it’s actually kind of dangerous.
If you click into location services, there’s a hidden setting called “frequent locations”. That feature essentially lists every place you’ve visited in the past month, and even tracks what time you arrived and what time you left.
Let this nice woman who is understandably freaked out explain. Post continues after video.
We spoke to Apple, who said the feature was helpful when it comes to finding your iPhone if you’ve lost it. This feature tracks your last known location down to the street number, so if a bad guy has run off with your phone, you can hand this information on to the police (please don’t chase after him).
But here comes the concerning part. This feature not only has users’ frequent locations, but it is smart enough to know when people are home, and smart enough to label their most frequently visited location as ‘home’. And we’re guessing that’s the kind of information you wouldn’t want to end up in the wrong hands, right?
In a day when our private information can be accessed by anyone with half-decent hacking skills, it’s terrifying to think about a feature like this exists without your knowledge. But on the other hand, they don’t call it a smartphone for nothing.
Luckily, it’s incredibly easy to turn off. When you’re in Frequent Locations, select “clear history”, then turn it off. It’s also helpful to make sure your Location Services are only connected to necessary apps, so to be extra safe, go through and turn off any you aren’t using.
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Top Comments
It's an easily accessible option that you can choose to use and to turn that option on or off. It's right there in plain view in the menu and not "hidden" at all.
If your phone is stolen when you leave the option on, you have not been "hacked" they are merely accessing the information that you have freely allowed the phone/telecommunications company to collect. Don't think it's useful, then don't use it.
If you choose to use buy a product and it's associated services, it's up to you to learn the basic functions instead of blaming hidden hackers.
It's actually also complete bullshit that it's in any way useful if you lose your phone. My bag was stolen a few mths ago with my iPad in it. I reported the theft, received an event number and activated the find my iPhone app. Weeks later when I received notification that it had been found (including an exact address) I had to call three police stations before anyone assured me that they would follow it up (they didn't) I called a few days later only to be told that they attended the address and the occupants said they didn't have the iPad. The police have no power to do anything about it & who's going to admit stealing. It's a joke and smartphones are nothing better than portable marketing tools.
The issue is that the location service is not 100% accurate. It could show the house next door, or accross the road. I'm sure if the crooks a few doors down from your house had a stolen iPhone and the police knocked on your door accusing you of stealing it "because the iphone app said it was here" you wouldn't be happy about them pushing you out of the way and searching your house.