Apple To Patch Location Bugs

We have discussed the iPhone location tracking from both- customers’ and company’s points of view. It’s been said that Apple was tracking users’ locations for just one purpose and after accomplishing its goal, the “bug” was immediately fixed! (the picture on the right enlightens the objective)

Now some facts, it’s taken just seven days between that announcement and the appearance of iOS 4.3.3, while Apple said it would take a few weeks to issue an iOS update to fix a handful of bugs related to the storage of location data. A very good strategy to underpromise and overdeliver!

The iOS 4.3.3 addresses three bugs related to the database of location information on iOS devices that caused so much discussion and debates among users. Here is what iOS 4.3.3 brings up:

• Reduces the amount of the cached location information to a week’s worth, rather than relying on a size limit;

• It no longer backs up the cache to your Mac or PC via iTunes upon syncing, so the information isn’t available to anyone with access to your computer;

• The cache is now deleted from the device when Location Services are disabled in iOS’s Settings app.

Apple has also declared plans to encrypt the location information on iOS devices itself in the next major update to the operating system, which apparently refers to iOS 5.

The iOS 4.3.3 update relates to the iPhone 4, iPhone 3GS; iPad, iPad 2 and iPod touch (both 3rd and 4th generations). The CDMA iPhone got a separate update today, in the form of iOS 4.2.8 which fixes the same location bugs, but leaves that device short of the other features of iOS 4.3.

It should be remarked that Apple has managed to solve the problem of all smartphones very efficiently by immediate response to customers’ problems. Let’s see what happens next and hope that other smartphone producers also manage to quiet the quiet crowd.