Apple’s latest offering may be comprised up of superior performance boosting hardware, a near field communications chip for online payments and a fingerprint scanner for added security measures, it also happens to be a gadget that is ending up recording and displaying every single movement of the user, turning the device from a flexible mobile gadget to a dangerous liability.
Apart from the heightened security and encryption features that Apple has stacked in to the iOS 8 (which later brought discontent from FBI and its director, James Comey, stating that providing devices to users without a back entry was not in the best interest of the country’s national security) the flexible operating system is stuffed with numerous augmentations compared to its predecessors. However, one function, called the ‘Frequent Locations feature’, which was introduced to the iPhone 12 months ago, has been playing havoc with the safety of the user.
This function is currently present beneath five layers of the setting menus, making it non-existent to oblivious individuals. However, it can also result in the compromising on the individual’s security. According to the Cupertino tech company, data present in the user’s device never leaves unless the owners give their consent and the only reason the function was added was to improve the mapping services.
However, according to Professor Noel Sharkey, who is regarded as Britain’s leading computing experts; he described Apple’s ability to track people in a single word, ‘terrifying’. The professor’s findings were correct as the feature; which is installed on any iPhone running the iOS 7 or iOS 8.1 operating system version is able to display the movements clearly on a mapping interface present in the phone. The details records and displays the owner’s journeys, including the time of arrival and departure.
