Apple Offers Explanation For iPhone 11 Accessing Location Even When Disabled

Just the other day, it was reported that there was an issue with the iPhone 11 handsets where it appeared that even when told not to share location of the user, it continued to do so. It sounded like a bug but when security researcher Brian Krebs asked Apple about it, he was told that this was “expected behavior”.

Now in a statement provided to TechCrunch, Apple has offered an official explanation for what’s going on, where they point towards the iPhone 11’s use of ultra wideband technology as being the reason why (this explains why only the iPhone 11 models are affected as the U1 ultra wideband chips made their debut with the lineup).

According to the statement, “Ultra wideband technology is an industry standard technology and is subject to international regulatory requirements that require it to be turned off in certain locations. iOS uses Location Services to help determine if an iPhone is in these prohibited locations in order to disable ultra wideband and comply with regulations. The management of ultra wideband compliance and its use of location data is done entirely on the device and Apple is not collecting user location data.”

That being said, while Apple does defend the feature and doesn’t see a problem with it, the company did state that they plan to introduce a toggle option for the feature in an upcoming iOS update.

Tyler Lee
Categories: Apple, Cellphones
Tags: iPhone, iphone 11, Privacy