Your iPhone knows exactly where you are

Your iPhone knows exactly where you are

Say honey, what are you doing 10 times a month at 151 Prinsengracht? And how come you weren’t home between 2 and 4 when you said you were?

It sounds bizarre but that hero you carry in your pocket all day follows your location all day long. He knows what time you will be at work, when you will leave again how long you will be home and so on. You can view this creepy data via the following route:

Settings > Privacy > Location Features > system (bottom) > key locations.

If you look at the history, you can even see on the map where you have been and between what times you were there. You can turn this off by turning off location features. After all, it has ruined many a relationship.

What does Apple do with your location data?

Perhaps a reassurance: the data collected through Important Locations is end-to-end encrypted. That means Apple itself can’t see your locations, even if they wanted to. The information is only used to improve your user experience, such as with smart suggestions from Siri or automatic traffic information if you drive somewhere often.

Not only your iPhone…

Other Apple devices, such as your iPad or MacBook (if you have “Sharing via iCloud” enabled), can also contribute to your location history. That data is synced, so you have a complete overview on every device.

Did you know that…?

• Third-party apps can also collect location data, even if you only give them permission once. Through Settings > Privacy and Security > Location Features you can set whether and when each app gets access.

• You can set your iPhone to share location data with apps only during use.

• In the control panel, you can see if your location is being used in the background (identified by the little arrow at the top of your screen).

Want more control?

Also consider clearing your location history regularly. You do this by tapping “Clear History” on the Important Locations screen. Useful if you just want to start over or find privacy important.

Want to know more about how best to keep your privacy in these modern times? Then read; Conscious about privacy on your smartphone? Read our 11 tips & tricks!