Jobs responds to iPhone tracking fears: 'We don't track anyone'

Is Apple watching you? No, says Steve Jobs
Is Apple watching you? No, says Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs has apparently responded to a customer's email asking about iOS location tracking controversy that emerged last week, saying that Apple does not 'track anyone'.

A couple of ex-Apple developers unearthed evidence that iOS 4 devices have been logging and time-stamping their location co-ordinates and syncing them to a file on the user's computer - thus keeping tabs on everywhere the device (and its owner) have been and when.

Apple's PR team has so far kept schtum on the issue, but Steve Jobs has seemingly taken matters into his own hands, replying to a MacRumors reader's email on the matter.

A man of few words

Jobs wrote: "We don't track anyone. The info circulating around is false."

He also took a couple of seconds to succinctly stick the knife into Android, responding to the customer's threat to "switch to a Droid" because "they don't track me."

"Oh yes they do," quoth Jobs, thus supporting a claim by researcher Samy Kamkar who has found that Google also collects location data of Android phones every few seconds and stores it in a file on the handset – but goes as far as to regularly send that data back to Google.

Jobs' short email seems to claim that Apple isn't actively gathering the location information collected by iPhones and iPads; but if that's the case, why are its iOS devices collecting all that data to begin with?

From MacRumors

News Editor (UK)

Former UK News Editor for TechRadar, it was a perpetual challenge among the TechRadar staff to send Kate (Twitter, Google+) a link to something interesting on the internet that she hasn't already seen. As TechRadar's News Editor (UK), she was constantly on the hunt for top news and intriguing stories to feed your gadget lust. Kate now enjoys life as a renowned music critic – her words can be found in the i Paper, Guardian, GQ, Metro, Evening Standard and Time Out, and she's also the author of 'Amy Winehouse', a biography of the soul star.