How to disable location tracking on iPad and iPhone

If you have an iPhone or iPad, your movements have been tracked without your knowledge and, likely, without your explicit consent. Security researchers discovered a hidden file on the devices that contains a temporal record of a user’s latitude and longitude. When extrapolated, the data become a roadmap of a user’s movements for months — a scary proposition given how valuable the information could be to a stalker or a jealous ex.

The file, labeled “consolidated.db,” seems to have come into effect with the start of Apple’s iOS 4 update, which was released in June 2010. For additional information, the researchers behind this discovery created a website that explains the technical specifics of the file and that offers answers to concerns. If you’re concerned about how this location information affects your privacy — and you should be — keep on reading for steps on how to prevent local access to the data.

Why this data matters

It’s important to note that Apple isn’t in fact harvesting this data as part of some insidious plot. However, the data itself may still pose a potential privacy risk.

If your iPhone or iPad were lost or stolen, practically anyone could access your location data and track your movements from the past months. They would know where you lived, where you worked and where you spent your free time. By cross-referencing a map of your activity with information about you in a simple Google search, they could access a wealth of data about every element of your daily life.

How to disable the location tracking file

Unfortunately, there is no way to turn location tracking off if you’re using a standard iPhone or iPad device. However, you can prevent the information from being locally accessible. To do this, you must first plug in your device to your computer and open iTunes.

From iTunes, select your device. You’ll see a text box labeled “Options.” Here, you can choose the option “Encrypt iPhone backup.” When you select that box, you’ll be prompted to create a password that encrypts access to your data.

While this won’t stop your personal data from being collected, it’ll make it much more difficult for anyone to access the data should you lose your mobile device.