KrebsOnSecurity: iPhone 11 Pro Polls for Location Even When All Location Services Are Turned Off
Brian Krebs found the iPhone 11 Pro continued to poll for location data even with all individual Location Services disabled. Apple called the behavior expected. Here is what the policy actually says.
This post originally appeared as a LinkedIn Article on December 5, 2019.
Apple’s privacy policy states that location data may be collected by the device when Location Services remains enabled, even when individual Location Services entries are turned off. Security researcher Brian Krebs discovered that the iPhone 11 Pro continued polling location data despite all individual services being disabled. Apple responded that this is “expected behavior” for system services without individual toggles.
The original article and follow-up by Brian Krebs is published at krebsonsecurity.com (search “iPhone 11 Pro location data puzzler”).
Why It Matters
Most users assume that turning off every individual Location Services switch means their device stops polling for location. The Apple policy says otherwise: certain system services continue to poll regardless of the individual app or service toggles. Apple should clarify that the only way to fully disable location polling is to turn off Location Services at the master toggle, not to disable each individual entry.
Until the policy language is clearer, users who care about location privacy on iOS should turn Location Services off entirely from Settings > Privacy > Location Services, rather than relying on per-service toggles.