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Apple Releases New Software, Fixing Problems With Location Data

Apple has updated its iPhone and iPad software to fix what it said were bugs that erroneously collected and stored a vast amount of a user's location data.

As we've reported, last month researchers found that some iPhones and iPads kept an unencrypted file filled with locations. In essence, the researchers were able to see everywhere they'd been for about a year.

The New York Times Bits blog reports:

The company said the update would reduce the size of the location storage, which until now had been storing location data for up to a year.

The update will also stop storing location data in iTunes when a device is backed up on a computer, and will completely erase the data from customers' phones and tablets if they turn off Location Services.

Apple released two different updates, adds the Wall Street Journal: One for the AT&T's iPhone and another for Verizon's. The update isn't compatible with older iPhone 3G models.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Eyder Peralta is NPR's East Africa correspondent based in Nairobi, Kenya.
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