Is the iPhone 11 Pro caught red-handed in collecting location data?

Brian Krebs, journalist specializing in computer security, recently revealed his discovery on iPhone 11 Pro. The latter would share its GPS location data with Apple even though in the settings, all the individual switches for apps and services in the location service settings were disabled.

Here is the procedure that he carried out on his terminal and which highlights the phenomenon, procedure that we see in the video below.

• He went to the settings of his iPhone, Confidentiality section > Location services
• He left the first setting enabledLocation service, as well as the secondLocation-based alerts
• But he disabled the location settings for apps and services in the list below one by one, each time choosing the “Never” setting.

© iPhon.fr

Once this was set up correctly, Brian Krebs thought his iPhone would no longer be able to send location information to Apple. But that's not the case. From time to time, as he shows in the video, the small arrow appeared at the top of his screen indicating the sending of geolocation data to an external server.

This may be because some Apple services constantly need to use the user's geolocation to function properly. Despite everything, the question remains, because Brian Krebs was unable to reproduce the same phenomenon on an iPhone 8, by following the same procedure. This would mean that the iPhone 11 Pro has a particularity at this level, responsible for continuous sending of information despite the complete deactivation of the localization of each of the apps and services. The journalist is banking on the Wi-Fi 6 support functionality on the smartphone, without being able to prove it.

He further reported his discovery to Apple. According to the engineer from the Californian firm who responded, there is no safety problem. This would simply be location information useful for the proper functioning of certain iOS services.

In the end, the only way to ensure total deactivation of localization remains to turn the main switch off.Location service, in Privacy > Location Services.

Editor-in-chief for iPhon.fr. Pierre is like Indiana Jones, looking for the lost iOS trick. Also a long-time Mac user, Apple devices hold no secrets for him. Contact: pierre[a]iphon.fr.