So they don't use the data.. people have discovered as much by looking at how that file was treated. But the phone IS tracking your data. So if they're not using it, it is (like I and others said initially) more than likely a bug. And the bug isn't "False" Whatever the meaning of that file, it clearly exists, and it's not just some site trying to make it up.
They do use your information though, they say as much in their privacy policy. Again, that isn't an issue (and they dealt with it last year). This bugged file is.
I agree that people are blowing it out of proportion, but Apple should officially respond to this. Not a short 1-2 sentence response either.
1) Generally speaking I?d call it a bug, but more specifically I?d say it?s an oversight.
2) Like everyone els, their lawyers write up these privacy policies. There is no evidence that consolidated.db is sent to Apple in any way, shape or form. That is what is false.
3) It?s a silly notion to think that no data is sent to Apple or anyone else from your phone since it?s a connected device. Whether you?re connecting to the carrier for a call or to website or a remote server from an app you are sending and receiving data. This shouldn?t come as a surprise.
4) It?s been noted it?s cell data, not your specific location. It?s been noted other phones do it, too. The only unknown is why isn?t consolidated.db being purged when the data isn?t useful. For this reason, and this reason alone, I expect to get a formal answer and an iOS update to address the matter.
5) Personally I wish Jobs would stop with the emails to us plebs. It?s already caused issues when his terse replies have been used out of context. Let Apple?s PR and legal deal with these things.
You've pointed out the truth in this entire thing: the phone is not tracking your location, it is tracking the location of network access points it has been in communication with. I certainly cannot pretend to know why that data is being recorded - if I have to guess, it is probably engineering data. But regardless, the important point is that this data does not accurately reflect your locations - the phone is not tracking you, or even doing anything remotely of the sort.
I fail to see the flap over this. What use is it to anyone if there is an entry at some random time stamp on your device which happens to correspond to a cell tower 3.2 miles away from the Starbucks where you were having coffee at the time? How can that be seen as even remotely 'tracking' you? The location is the tower, not you; you could have been anywhere within the reach of that tower's signal, and that is a big area. There is no way knowing the location of the tower itself could help someone positively identify where you (or your phone for that matter) were at the time. To look at a situation like that and draw from it the conclusion that the device is tracking your location strains credulity, and to promulgate that and present it as fact the way Apple Insider and countless other publications have is dishonesty on a scale that quite frankly takes my breath away. It is ridiculous.
Well I guess that it is tracking you in a crude kind of way - it certainly has enough resolution to indicate if you travel any significant distance. As a means of actually locating you it is not very useful however. I think that the media response to this is driven more by the popularity of any suggested scandal involving Apple or Google, and the subsequent increase in their hits/sales/ad views, than by any real issue.
I don't understand why they would need to build such a file and I can see how it could be used for nefarious means. The fact that I actually trust Apple to do the right thing with my data is neither here nor there, I'd still like to understand why they are logging my position.
They build the file so your phone knows what services you have used and where. This speed up all kinds of applications that use locations such as knowing what WiFi networks you have used at a certain location.
As for using it for "nefarious means", this confuses me. The data is anonymous. Even if someone got hold of it, all it could tell anyone is that someone was at a location at a particular time. How is that nefarious? I have read that all mobile devices record such information - certainly we know iOS and Android devices both do - and the companies that make them can use the information to update databases on the locations of cell towers and WiFi hotspots. I fail to see how this is an intrusion into my privacy.
Perhaps I am a little laissez-faire about privacy (I feel I have nothing to hide ) but it seems to me that as long as we don't lose our phones then no-one can use this file to know where we have been. As I said before, this file just records where the mobile device has been and even the identity of the device is not part of the file. Privacy is important but I can't see that mine has been invaded in this case.
FWIW, I have tried the iPhoneTracker app and the AppleScript for adding this info to iPhoto and they both report that they cannot find the consolidated.db file. As far as I know I haven't disabled anything and I know my location services are switched on and working. I wonder how many other people don't have one and whether I'm just not interesting enough to spy on!\
FWIW, I have tried the iPhoneTracker app and the AppleScript for adding this info to iPhoto and they both report that they cannot find the consolidated.db file. As far as I know I haven't disabled anything and I know my location services are switched on and working. I wonder how many other people don't have one and whether I'm just not interesting enough to spy on!\
Have you tried browsing the file system? On the phone it should be in: System/Library/Frameworks/CoreLocation.framework/Support. In the backup structure it is in: Library/Caches/locationd.
Thanks muppetry, I have looked in Library/Caches/ but cannot find "locationd" there. Presumably it would be in my user so it would be ~Library/Caches/locationd? Also I don't know how to browse the file system on my iPhone. Does it have to be jailbroken?
Thanks muppetry, I have looked in Library/Caches/ but cannot find "locationd" there. Presumably it would be in my user so it would be ~Library/Caches/locationd? Also I don't know how to browse the file system on my iPhone. Does it have to be jailbroken?
Yes, it has to be JBen with SSH enabled [if you want to access your phone’s file system, but it doesn’t need to be JBen if you want to access consolidated.db from the mapping app as it uses your backups done by iTunes.]
1) Are you using iOS 4.x?
2) If yes, have you backed up your iPhone running iOS 4.x with iTunes?
3) If yes, is your iPhone OS 4.x backup unencrypted per the checkbox in iTunes?
4) If yes, I have no idea why the app can’t locate the file.
Yes, it has to be JBen with SSH enabled. OK, so my phone is not Jailbroken
1) Are you using iOS 4.x? Yes - 4.3.2
2) If yes, have you backed up your iPhone running iOS 4.x with iTunes? Yes - frequently
3) If yes, is your iPhone OS 4.x backup unencrypted per the checkbox in iTunes? Yes - the checkbox is unchecked
4) If yes, I have no idea why the app can?t locate the file. Me too.
I might be in a minority but I'm disappointed that these data are not available to me (or anyone else). I'll go and check the iMac that my wife uses to sync her iPhone and see what shows up.
I might be in a minority but I'm disappointed that these data are not available to me (or anyone else). I'll go and check the iMac that my wife uses to sync her iPhone and see what shows up.
You iPhone backups are located in ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup. Not sure what else to suggest looking for but I don’t see how your phone would be any different.
Yes, it has to be JBen with SSH enabled [if you want to access your phone’s file system, but it doesn’t need to be JBen if you want to access consolidated.db from the mapping app as it uses your backups done by iTunes.]
1) Are you using iOS 4.x?
2) If yes, have you backed up your iPhone running iOS 4.x with iTunes?
3) If yes, is your iPhone OS 4.x backup unencrypted per the checkbox in iTunes?
4) If yes, I have no idea why the app can’t locate the file.
Actually it does not have to be jailbroken - mine isn't. You can use an app such as FileSystem to browse the file structure on the phone. The file structure in the iTunes backups is different, as indicated by the different paths. The files in the backup folder have pseudo-random string names and you need to extract the files, so when I gave the path as Library/Caches/locationd I meant in the extracted backup file structure, not your user library. Sorry to have mislead you there.
Note that this is for browsing the structure, and you can preview some file types. Not SQL databases though - to read that you would have to get in via SSH and copy the file.
It mystifies me how you can use this data to geotag photo places, since the vast majority of these data points reflect locations where you have not actually been. How does that work, exactly?
Note that this is for browsing the structure, and you can preview some file types. Not SQL databases though - to read that you would have to get in via SSH and copy the file.
I can see where you?re coming with that but I was referring to more than a viewer on the iPhone. To get access to the iPhone?s filesystem on your Mac/PC jailbreaking and SSH is the only option I know of. If you just want to access to the filesystem a simple JB and an app from Cydia can do wonders. They even have a Terminal app.
I can see where you?re coming with that but I was referring to more than a viewer on the iPhone. To get access to the iPhone?s filesystem on your Mac/PC jailbreaking and SSH is the only option I know of. If you just want to access to the filesystem a simple JB and an app from Cydia can do wonders. They even have a Terminal app.
That is correct - I did not make my post very clear. I have not tried the JB approach to get into the filesystem as it is so easy to get the files from the backup.
I had a bit of a play and, although I still can't find the files I'm looking for, after syncing my iPhone again iPhoneTracker worked as expected. However iPhoneGeotag still complains that it can't find the file: "Error: consolodated.db (location file) not found!". Curiouser and curiouser said Alice.
Comments
Not sure that his response there helps much.
So they don't use the data.. people have discovered as much by looking at how that file was treated. But the phone IS tracking your data. So if they're not using it, it is (like I and others said initially) more than likely a bug. And the bug isn't "False" Whatever the meaning of that file, it clearly exists, and it's not just some site trying to make it up.
They do use your information though, they say as much in their privacy policy. Again, that isn't an issue (and they dealt with it last year). This bugged file is.
I agree that people are blowing it out of proportion, but Apple should officially respond to this. Not a short 1-2 sentence response either.
1) Generally speaking I?d call it a bug, but more specifically I?d say it?s an oversight.
2) Like everyone els, their lawyers write up these privacy policies. There is no evidence that consolidated.db is sent to Apple in any way, shape or form. That is what is false.
3) It?s a silly notion to think that no data is sent to Apple or anyone else from your phone since it?s a connected device. Whether you?re connecting to the carrier for a call or to website or a remote server from an app you are sending and receiving data. This shouldn?t come as a surprise.
4) It?s been noted it?s cell data, not your specific location. It?s been noted other phones do it, too. The only unknown is why isn?t consolidated.db being purged when the data isn?t useful. For this reason, and this reason alone, I expect to get a formal answer and an iOS update to address the matter.
5) Personally I wish Jobs would stop with the emails to us plebs. It?s already caused issues when his terse replies have been used out of context. Let Apple?s PR and legal deal with these things.
How are comments like that beneficial? Highly unlikely that anyone is paid to post here. ...
Yeah, right.
You've pointed out the truth in this entire thing: the phone is not tracking your location, it is tracking the location of network access points it has been in communication with. I certainly cannot pretend to know why that data is being recorded - if I have to guess, it is probably engineering data. But regardless, the important point is that this data does not accurately reflect your locations - the phone is not tracking you, or even doing anything remotely of the sort.
I fail to see the flap over this. What use is it to anyone if there is an entry at some random time stamp on your device which happens to correspond to a cell tower 3.2 miles away from the Starbucks where you were having coffee at the time? How can that be seen as even remotely 'tracking' you? The location is the tower, not you; you could have been anywhere within the reach of that tower's signal, and that is a big area. There is no way knowing the location of the tower itself could help someone positively identify where you (or your phone for that matter) were at the time. To look at a situation like that and draw from it the conclusion that the device is tracking your location strains credulity, and to promulgate that and present it as fact the way Apple Insider and countless other publications have is dishonesty on a scale that quite frankly takes my breath away. It is ridiculous.
Well I guess that it is tracking you in a crude kind of way - it certainly has enough resolution to indicate if you travel any significant distance. As a means of actually locating you it is not very useful however. I think that the media response to this is driven more by the popularity of any suggested scandal involving Apple or Google, and the subsequent increase in their hits/sales/ad views, than by any real issue.
I've written an AppleScript called iPhone Geotag to tag Places for your pictures in iPhoto using this data.
Please check it out at http://goo.gl/OQzfB
Any feedback's greatly appreciated!
Peter
http://peterburk.appspot.com
I don't understand why they would need to build such a file and I can see how it could be used for nefarious means. The fact that I actually trust Apple to do the right thing with my data is neither here nor there, I'd still like to understand why they are logging my position.
They build the file so your phone knows what services you have used and where. This speed up all kinds of applications that use locations such as knowing what WiFi networks you have used at a certain location.
As for using it for "nefarious means", this confuses me. The data is anonymous. Even if someone got hold of it, all it could tell anyone is that someone was at a location at a particular time. How is that nefarious? I have read that all mobile devices record such information - certainly we know iOS and Android devices both do - and the companies that make them can use the information to update databases on the locations of cell towers and WiFi hotspots. I fail to see how this is an intrusion into my privacy.
Perhaps I am a little laissez-faire about privacy (I feel I have nothing to hide
FWIW, I have tried the iPhoneTracker app and the AppleScript for adding this info to iPhoto and they both report that they cannot find the consolidated.db file. As far as I know I haven't disabled anything and I know my location services are switched on and working. I wonder how many other people don't have one and whether I'm just not interesting enough to spy on!
Have you tried browsing the file system? On the phone it should be in: System/Library/Frameworks/CoreLocation.framework/Support. In the backup structure it is in: Library/Caches/locationd.
Thanks muppetry, I have looked in Library/Caches/ but cannot find "locationd" there. Presumably it would be in my user so it would be ~Library/Caches/locationd? Also I don't know how to browse the file system on my iPhone. Does it have to be jailbroken?
Yes, it has to be JBen with SSH enabled [if you want to access your phone’s file system, but it doesn’t need to be JBen if you want to access consolidated.db from the mapping app as it uses your backups done by iTunes.]
1) Are you using iOS 4.x?
2) If yes, have you backed up your iPhone running iOS 4.x with iTunes?
3) If yes, is your iPhone OS 4.x backup unencrypted per the checkbox in iTunes?
4) If yes, I have no idea why the app can’t locate the file.
Thanks for the input. To answer your questions:
Yes, it has to be JBen with SSH enabled. OK, so my phone is not Jailbroken
1) Are you using iOS 4.x? Yes - 4.3.2
2) If yes, have you backed up your iPhone running iOS 4.x with iTunes? Yes - frequently
3) If yes, is your iPhone OS 4.x backup unencrypted per the checkbox in iTunes? Yes - the checkbox is unchecked
4) If yes, I have no idea why the app can?t locate the file. Me too.
I might be in a minority but I'm disappointed that these data are not available to me (or anyone else). I'll go and check the iMac that my wife uses to sync her iPhone and see what shows up.
I might be in a minority but I'm disappointed that these data are not available to me (or anyone else). I'll go and check the iMac that my wife uses to sync her iPhone and see what shows up.
You iPhone backups are located in ~/Library/Application Support/MobileSync/Backup. Not sure what else to suggest looking for but I don’t see how your phone would be any different.
Yes, it has to be JBen with SSH enabled [if you want to access your phone’s file system, but it doesn’t need to be JBen if you want to access consolidated.db from the mapping app as it uses your backups done by iTunes.]
1) Are you using iOS 4.x?
2) If yes, have you backed up your iPhone running iOS 4.x with iTunes?
3) If yes, is your iPhone OS 4.x backup unencrypted per the checkbox in iTunes?
4) If yes, I have no idea why the app can’t locate the file.
Actually it does not have to be jailbroken - mine isn't. You can use an app such as FileSystem to browse the file structure on the phone. The file structure in the iTunes backups is different, as indicated by the different paths. The files in the backup folder have pseudo-random string names and you need to extract the files, so when I gave the path as Library/Caches/locationd I meant in the extracted backup file structure, not your user library. Sorry to have mislead you there.
Actually it does not have to be jailbroken - mine isn't. You can use an app such as FileSystem to browse the file structure on the phone.
Link? I searched for it but the name is too general.
Link? I searched for it but the name is too general.
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/files...418424102?mt=8
Note that this is for browsing the structure, and you can preview some file types. Not SQL databases though - to read that you would have to get in via SSH and copy the file.
(Apologies for cross-posting, but unfortunately most people don't read every thread.)
I've written an AppleScript called iPhone Geotag to tag Places for your pictures in iPhoto using this data.
Please check it out at http://goo.gl/OQzfB
Any feedback's greatly appreciated!
Peter
http://peterburk.appspot.com
It mystifies me how you can use this data to geotag photo places, since the vast majority of these data points reflect locations where you have not actually been. How does that work, exactly?
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/files...418424102?mt=8
Note that this is for browsing the structure, and you can preview some file types. Not SQL databases though - to read that you would have to get in via SSH and copy the file.
I can see where you?re coming with that but I was referring to more than a viewer on the iPhone. To get access to the iPhone?s filesystem on your Mac/PC jailbreaking and SSH is the only option I know of. If you just want to access to the filesystem a simple JB and an app from Cydia can do wonders. They even have a Terminal app.
I can see where you?re coming with that but I was referring to more than a viewer on the iPhone. To get access to the iPhone?s filesystem on your Mac/PC jailbreaking and SSH is the only option I know of. If you just want to access to the filesystem a simple JB and an app from Cydia can do wonders. They even have a Terminal app.
That is correct - I did not make my post very clear. I have not tried the JB approach to get into the filesystem as it is so easy to get the files from the backup.
But this is the part that leaves the impression that they're guilty of something. "So far Apple is refusing to comment".
So what do you suppose potential Apple product purchasers will hear? Past the time for Apple to comment.
http://www.engadget.com/2011/04/27/a...cking-says-it/